SpaceX launched its massive Super Heavy-Starship rocket on Thursday for its seventh test flight, successfully recovering the first-stage booster at the launch site but losing the new-generation Starship upper stage, which appeared to break up as it neared space. Telemetry from the spacecraft cut off about eight and a half minutes after takeoff, following an unexpected engine shutdown or failure.
SpaceX later confirmed the destruction of the Starship in a lighthearted update, stating, “Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn.”
The rocket launched from SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, site, using 33 Raptor engines to generate 16 million pounds of thrust. Two minutes and 40 seconds into flight, the Super Heavy booster detached, and the Starship continued its ascent on its six Raptor engines.
Meanwhile, the booster successfully turned around and re-ignited its engines to return to Boca Chica, where its “chopsticks” on the launch gantry successfully captured the booster in mid-air.
This test flight included several upgrades, such as improved avionics, a larger propellant capacity, and heat shield enhancements. The flight’s objectives included testing the restart of a Raptor engine in space and deploying 10 dummy Starlink satellites to test a new delivery system.
Although the upper stage was lost, the flight provided valuable data for future improvements, with SpaceX engineers focused on refining the system for eventual operational missions, including lunar landings for NASA’s Artemis program.
SpaceX has yet to recover a returning Starship or Falcon 9 upper stage, but the successful recovery of the Super Heavy booster, alongside the spacecraft’s other improvements, signals progress toward making the entire system reusable.
This is a key step in SpaceX’s goal to reduce launch costs and support missions to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.
