SpaceX Loses Control of Starship on Flight 9, Raising Fresh Questions About Rocket’s Readiness

The ninth test flight of SpaceX’s Starship managed to reach space—but once again, it didn’t return in one piece. On May 27, 2025, Elon Musk’s colossal moon-and-Mars-bound rocket suffered a mid-flight failure when its upper-stage vehicle sprang a propellant leak, spun out of control, and disintegrated during re-entry over the Indian Ocean.

Although this marked some progress over January and March launches—which exploded during ascent and scattered debris across the Atlantic—it still fell short of mission goals. And for a rocket that’s expected to carry humans to the Moon and Mars, the repeated setbacks are hard to ignore.

What Went Wrong This Time

After a smooth liftoff from Starbase, Texas, Starship completed its scheduled engine cutoff and reached space. But halfway through its journey, a leak in the main tank caused a loss of pressure, leading the vehicle to spin uncontrollably. The spacecraft couldn’t withstand the heat of re-entry and broke apart.

The failure also meant that SpaceX couldn’t test several heat shield tile designs on the underside of the vehicle—a key part of its reusability plan.

Elon Musk Responds 

In a conversation hours before launch, Musk said “re-entry was the most important part” of the mission. Unfortunately, that was the exact point where everything unraveled.

He later posted on X (formerly Twitter), praising progress:

“Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent.”

Still, payload tests also failed. The spacecraft couldn’t open its Starlink satellite simulator bay, and the satellites never deployed.

Booster Reuse: A Partial Win, Then a Loss

This mission re-used the Super Heavy booster from January’s test. It worked well on ascent but failed during a simulated landing. SpaceX was trying to see if the booster could switch engines mid-maneuver, but it broke apart over the Gulf of Mexico.

While past flights saw boosters caught by giant mechanical arms at the launch site, this attempt aimed higher—and fell short.

A Look Back at Flights 7 and 8

The last two flights (January and March 2025) were more problematic. Both Starships exploded during ascent, scattering debris across Florida and the Caribbean.

• Flight 7: Failed due to excessive oscillations that caused leaks and fires.
  
• Flight 8: A hardware failure triggered uncontrolled engine shutdowns, and the craft spun out of control.
  

Neither flight reached the phase where key tests could be completed. In contrast, Flights 4, 5, and 6 were more promising, surviving re-entry and performing splashdowns.

The Road Ahead for Starship

Despite the failures, SpaceX isn’t slowing down. Musk announced that the next three test flights are coming every 3 to 4 weeks. Whether those timelines hold remains to be seen—Musk is known for setting ambitious but unrealistic schedules.

Starship also plays a central role in NASA’s Artemis III mission, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon. That contract is worth billions. Yet, Musk appears more focused on Mars, hinting that the Moon mission is a less exciting detour.

In his chat with space journalist Tim Dodd, Musk criticized the Artemis plan and doubled down on his Mars goals, saying he hopes to send five uncrewed Starships to Mars in 2026, possibly carrying Tesla-built robots.

But before that can happen, SpaceX must prove Starship can survive re-entry, land safely, and work repeatedly—three things it hasn’t done yet.

A Mixed Record That Still Needs Work

Flight 9 showed some improvement—but not enough. With booster reuse still unstable and the upper-stage vehicle failing critical tests, SpaceX’s biggest rocket remains a work in progress. The company’s fast-test philosophy may eventually pay off, but for now, the road to Mars is still full of technical potholes.

More…

• https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-launches-starship-flight-9-to-space-in-historic-reuse-of-giant-megarocket-video
• https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-05-28/spacex-starship-rocket-destroyed-in-test-setback-video
• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/27/science/spacex-starship-launch-elon-musk-mars.html