See the video of the SpaceX Starship explosion seen from Viera, Florida.
SpaceX Starship can be seen exploding in the sky above Viera, Florida on March 6, 2025 at 6:40pm
SpaceX’s latest unmanned spacecraft launch was turned off without a boom on Tuesday, but eventually disbanded almost an hour after taking off.
After two test fights ended with a dramatic explosion earlier this year, the ninth flight test of SpaceX’s spacecraft vehicle experienced a “rapid unplanned disassembly” on Tuesday, May 27th. SpaceX is the same language used when Starship’s January and March flight tests unexpectedly explode in the sky.
“The team will continue to review the data and work towards the next flight test,” wrote CEO Elon Musk’s company. “Tests like these will succeed from what we learn. Today’s tests will help improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX tries to make life more frequent.”
SpaceX’s ninth flight test liftoff occurred at 7:35pm from SpaceX’s Starbase headquarters in Bocachica, Texas.
According to an X post from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Starship was able to reach the scheduled cutoff of the ship engine before disassembly.
“The leak caused major tank pressure losses during the coast and re-entry stages. A lot of good data to review. The next three flights of cadence launches will be faster in about one every three to four weeks,” he writes.
First release was turned off without any problems
The huge launch vehicle marking its ninth spaceship launch and the third this year appears to have been successfully turned off early.
“Incredible flight tests so far,” Jessie Anderson, senior production engineering manager at SpaceX, initially said in a live stream. “The ship is in orbit.”
“What a moment. You need to gather yourself together,” replied SpaceX Communications specialist Dan Hewitt.
During the final spaceship flight test in March, rockets on the Ghagan River disbanded, sending fiery fragments into the sky. Still, SpaceX said the progress took place during the launch when the ship’s rocket booster was captured by a huge mechanical device known as chopsticks. The booster catch went as planned, the third in a row overall.
This time around the booster catch was not attempted as SpaceX said it prioritized acceleration and development of Musk’s Starship plan to reach Mars. The team lost ties with The Booster, which was expected to land in the US Gulf.
According to Hewitt, SpaceX was unable to release eight mock objects similar to Starlink Internet satellites. In another hiccup, the spacecraft began to spin, heading towards the Indian Ocean for an uncontrolled landing. However, Hewitt revealed that SpaceX will land safely as it clears a wide area of the Indian Ocean.
He later confirmed that SpaceX would also eventually lose contact with the ship itself, closing out the Starship Flight Test Nine.
“We couldn’t get more of our orbital goals today, but the fact that we entered space was a really big moment for many teams,” Hewitt said.
When was the 9th flight test approved?
Federal Aviation Administration Greenlit SpaceX completed its investigation into its launch on March 6th, and then took another spaceship flight test on May 22nd. The FAA said SpaceX has completed “all of the strict safety, environmental and other licensing requirements” for another act.
Similar to the launch in March, the spacecraft test flight on January 16 also ended with an explosion, with SpaceX later saying it is commonly referred to as the attic due to propellant leaks and fires in the rear section of the vehicle.
What is a spaceship?
The Starship is a vehicle designed to be SpaceX’s Gargantuan rocket and a fully reusable transport system that can one day return to the ground for additional missions. Over the next few years, spacecraft aims to bring both cargo and humans into Earth’s orbit and deep into space.
NASA’s lunar exploration plan, which appears to be at risk under President Donald Trump’s proposed budget, calls Artemis III astronauts in Orion capsules, and boards a spaceship in orbit to ride the surface of the moon.
But Musk is more engrossed with spacecraft reaching Mars – potentially, by the end of 2026, under his vision, the expedition of humans on the spacecraft could continue several years after the first softened spacecraft reached the Red Planet.
What happened on the last spaceship flight?
In the eighth launch test on March 6, the flight operator lost contact with the top of the spacecraft and exploded within 10 minutes of the flight, creating debris that appears from Florida to the Caribbean.
Despite the failure of the spacecraft’s vehicle, the spacecraft’s rocket booster managed to return to the launchpad for the second consecutive time. The operation first completed in October 2024 involves SpaceX catching a booster with a huge mechanical device known as the chopsticks.
How big is the spaceship?
The spacecraft is considered the world’s largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed. Over 400 feet tall, the spaceship tower stands near 230 feet on SpaceX’s famous Falcon 9 rocket (one of the most active in the world).
The launch vehicle consists of both a super heavy 232-foot rocket and a 171-foot upper spacecraft.
The Super Heavy Alone is powered by SpaceX’s 33 Raptor engines. The upper section, also known as a spacecraft or ship for short, is an upper stage equipped with six Raptor engines that eventually travel in orbit.
Anthony Robledo covers USA Today’s national trending news. Please contact him arobledo@usatoday.com
Eric Lagatta is a Space Connect reporter for the USA Today Network. Contact him at elagatta@gannett.com
