SpaceX saw setbacks on Thursday after the eighth test flight of one of its Starship rockets ended in flames, with an explosion that propelled fiery wreckage into skies over Florida and temporarily grounding flights out of the Sunshine State.
The company reports that it successfully recovered the Super Heavy booster for the third time, but loss of contact with the doomed spacecraft just minutes after takeoff caused it to tumble out of control and break apart.
Liftoff of the 403-foot rocket took place at 5:30 p.m. CT on March 6 from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas. At the time of launch, all 33 of the spacecraft’s Raptor engines fired according to plan.
The first stage booster successfully executed a separation, relighting 12 of its 13 engines, providing ample power for its landing burn and touching down on the launch pad. There, the pad’s catch tower arms successfully guided the booster to the ground.
However, things did not go so smoothly for Starship. It reportedly experienced a failure late in its ascent that resulted in a loss of control before it was able to deploy a payload of mock satellites it carried.
“Prior to the end of the ascent burn, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship resulted in the loss of several Raptor engines,” SpaceX said in an update on its website following the incident.
“This in turn led to a loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communications with Starship,” the statement read. “Final contact with Starship came approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.”
Booster Recovery and Starship’s Failure
Once Starship cleared the launch tower, the spacecraft’s Super Heavy booster completed a nominal ascent and shut down all but three of its Raptor engines for hot-staging separation.
At this time, six engines were ignited on the upper-stage vehicle as planned. Starship proceeded along its planned trajectory, which would have brought the spacecraft halfway across the world to perform a controlled reentry over the Indian Ocean. As the upper-stage engines ignited, the rocket’s booster re-lit its engines and conducted a boostback burn before returning to the launch site.
While the booster recovery was successful, the “energetic event” reported by SpaceX following the incident, which is believed to have occurred in the aft section of the spacecraft, resulted in the failure of several of its Raptor engines.
Subsequently, the vehicle lost attitude control, which caused the rocket to enter an uncontrolled spin. SpaceX engineers on the ground lost control of the rocket less than ten minutes after liftoff.
Debris Recovery and Safety Precautions
Fortunately, the Starship’s ascent carried it within a designated launch corridor, which helped minimize the potential for falling debris to impact people and infrastructure on the ground. No hazardous materials were said to have been present, and debris was expected to come down within a predesignated area.
SpaceX has asked the public to report any debris to local authorities or to the company’s designated hotline.
Thursday’s incident spells trouble for Spacex, as it marks the company’s second consecutive test flight failure of its Starship. The spacecraft suffered a significant anomaly during both flights before completing its planned mission.
In a previous incident, a fuel leak after launch triggered the Starship’s self-destruct system, causing it to explode over the Atlantic Ocean. It was not immediately clear whether Thursday’s failed test flight caused the spacecraft’s self-destruct mechanism to engage.
Implications for Future Starship Missions
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it will require SpaceX to investigate this week’s failed launch, as it has been required to do with past launch mishaps.
In the past, the agency has found itself at odds with the company’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk, who has expressed frustration over the FAA’s regulatory authority regarding spaceflight.
Musk, now a senior advisor to President Donald Trump, has led efforts under the administrations newly formed and highly controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), where efforts to slash excessive spending and regulatory overreach in government have already led to the firings of tens of thousands of federal employees this year.
The FAA is among the many agencies Musk has targeted under DOGE, and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) is responsible for regulations involving spaceflight, which have directly impacted SpaceX in the past.
Thursday’s Starship destruction could also potentially mean trouble for NASA, which has contracted SpaceX and its experimental rocket—currently the world’s largest and most powerful—for its Artemis lunar landings.
The American space agency hopes to return astronauts to the Moon in the coming years. Starship will land crew members near the lunar South Pole to explore and determine the location’s potential use for a future lunar base. Starship is also currently expected to deliver supplies and science payloads during future NASA lunar missions.
Musk has expressed his commitment to Starship, which will enable future lunar exploration and the first crewed missions to Mars.
Despite Thursday’s failure, SpaceX has expressed optimism about Starship’s progress.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s flight will help us improve Starship’s reliability,” the company stated on its website.
“We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA,” the statement added, “and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests.”
Micah Hanks is the Editor-in-Chief and Co-Founder of The Debrief. He can be reached by email at micah@thedebrief.org. Follow his work at micahhanks.com and on X: @MicahHanks.