Insider Brief
- SpaceX’s eighth Starship test flight ended in failure as the rocket lost control and exploded over the Caribbean following an engine malfunction.
- The FAA has mandated a mishap investigation, stating that “normal operations have resumed” after briefly slowing air traffic in the designated Debris Response Area.
- SpaceX has pledged to analyze the failure and implement improvements before the next test flight.
SpaceX’s Starship tumbled out of control before exploding and raining debris over the Caribbean during it’s eighth test flight.
According to the SpaceX livestream, several raptor engines cut out at about the 8-minute mark, causing a loss of attitude control, meaning Starship could no longer maintain its intended flight path. SpaceX control lost communications about 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.
Elon Musk posted on X “Rockets are hard” in response to a post about the launch. Starship is equipped with a self-destruct “flight termination system” but it was unclear if that was the cause of the explosion.
In January, SpaceX suffered a similar failure with it’s seventh test flight of a Starship.
“Starship flew within a designated launch corridor to safeguard the public both on the ground, on water, and in the air,” SpaceX noted in a statement posted to its website. Following the anomaly, SpaceX teams immediately began coordination with the FAA, ATO (air traffic control) and other safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency responses.”
The flight began at 5:30 p.m. CT from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas, where the company has been developing and testing Starship’s capability for future lunar and Mars missions. The launch proceeded as planned in its early stages, according to SpaceX. The Super Heavy booster, powered by 33 Raptor engines, successfully lifted Starship skyward and completed its separation sequence about two and a half minutes after liftoff.
After separation, Starship ignited its six engines and continued its ascent. However, just before the ascent burn was completed, SpaceX reported an “energetic event” in the aft section of the vehicle that caused the loss of several Raptor engines, leading to a loss of attitude control.
According to SpaceX, any surviving debris from Starship would have landed in a pre-designated debris zone over open water, posing no immediate risk to the public or environment.
“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.
This is not the first high-profile failure for Starship, which remains in its experimental stage. Previous test flights have ended in explosions, either on ascent or during landing attempts. Despite these setbacks, SpaceX has made incremental progress, including improvements to the Super Heavy booster, which successfully landed and was caught by the launch tower for the third time.
The failure comes at a critical time for SpaceX, as the company races to prove Starship’s viability for NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to return humans to the Moon by the end of the decade. Starship is also central to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s long-term goal of enabling human settlement on Mars. NASA has invested billions into Starship’s development, including using it as the lunar lander for Artemis III.
One of the biggest challenges facing Starship is reliability. While test flights are designed to uncover flaws, the repeated loss of vehicles raises concerns about whether SpaceX can meet its ambitious timeline for making Starship operational.
SpaceX has pledged to analyze the failure and implement improvements before its next test flight. “We will conduct a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions to make improvements on future Starship flight tests,” the company said.
The FAA issued a preliminary statement on the incident and outlined the steps that agency is taking.
“The FAA is requiring SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the loss of the Starship vehicle during launch operations on March 6,” the statment said. “During the event, the FAA activated a Debris Response Area and briefly slowed aircraft outside the area where space vehicle debris was falling or stopped aircraft at their departure location. Normal operations have resumed.”
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