Key points
- First-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown
- Last two outings ended with the upper stage disintegrating in fiery cascades
- Mission teams vented fuel to reduce the force of the expected explosion
ISLAMABAD: Billionaire Elon Musk’s commercial space flight company, SpaceX, lost control of its ninth Starship test flight 30 minutes after the uncrewed rocket vehicle was launched into space from Texas, the United States, the Reuters news agency reports.
The mega-rocket then re-entered the atmosphere earlier than planned on Wednesday after an onboard fuel leak triggered uncontrollable spinning in space, according to Reuters.
The biggest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built lifted off around 6:36 pm (2336 GMT) from the company’s Starbase facility, near a southern Texas village that earlier this month voted to become a city — also named Starbase.
Excitement ran high among SpaceX engineers and spectators alike, after the last two outings ended with the upper stage disintegrating in fiery cascades over the Caribbean.
Trouble emerged quickly
But signs of trouble emerged quickly: the first-stage Super Heavy booster blew up instead of executing its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
A live feed then showed the upper-stage spaceship failing to open its doors to deploy a payload of Starlink satellite “simulators.”
Though the ship flew farther than on its two previous attempts, it sprang leaks and began spinning out of control as it coasted through space.
Mission teams vented fuel to reduce the force of the expected explosion, and onboard cameras cut out roughly 45 minutes into what was meant to be a 66-minute flight — falling short of its target splashdown zone off Australia’s west coast.
“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly,” SpaceX posted on X — a familiar euphemism for fiery failure — while stressing it would learn from the setback.
Starship’s ninth flight test marked a major milestone for reuse with the first flight-proven Super Heavy booster launching from Starbase, and once more returned Starship to space → https://t.co/Gufroc2kUz pic.twitter.com/RNJkj5OobP
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 28, 2025
Musk, meanwhile, vowed to pick up the pace: “Launch cadence for the next 3 flights will be faster — approximately one every 3 to 4 weeks,” he said.
He did not say, however, whether he still planned to deliver a live stream about Mars that SpaceX had been promoting.
Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, the black-and-white behemoth is designed to eventually be fully reusable and launch at low cost, carrying Musk’s hopes of making humanity a multi-planetary species.
NASA is also counting on a variant of Starship to serve as the crew lander for Artemis 3, the mission to return Americans to the Moon.
Ahead of the launch, dozens of space fans gathered at Isla Blanca Park on nearby South Padre Island, hoping to catch a glimpse of history.
Several small tourist boats also dotted the lagoon, while a live feed showed Musk sitting at ground control in Starbase, wearing an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt.
