Topline
SpaceX is preparing for its ninth test launch of Starship, one of the Elon Musk-founded company’s signature rockets, on Tuesday—after its previous two launches ended in explosions the company labeled “rapid unscheduled disassembly.”
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, on Monday ahead of ... More
The rocket will launch from SpaceX’s manufacturing facility in Starbase, Texas, which is near the southern tip of the state, along the Gulf coast.
SpaceX is set to livestream the launch on X, and it is scheduled to start around 7:30 p.m. EDT and take a little over an hour to finish.
Tuesday’s launch will be the ninth test of Starship and comes after the last two test launches ended with explosions—though SpaceX said it made “several hardware changes” to “increase reliability” of this flight.
- That’s how many feet tall Starship is, according to SpaceX, which describes the rocket and spacecraft as “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.”
The eighth test launch of Starship was on March 6, and ended in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly,” though it began with a successful liftoff and the ship’s Super Heavy Booster was successfully caught using two mechanical arms. The mishap of the eighth launch led to the Federal Aviation Administration ordering a ground stop for flights leaving from multiple airports in Florida as the ship broke up over the ocean, leaving a fiery trail of debris that was widely photographed. The seventh test launch, which was on Jan. 16, also ended with a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” after SpaceX lost connection with the ship during its ascent phase. After the eighth launch ended in explosion, SpaceX founder Elon Musk defended the struggles and said SpaceX was only facing a “minor setback” and that “progress is measured by time.”
The seventh test flight was disrupted by an oxygen leak, flashes and “sustained fires” in its aft section, which caused the rocket’s engines to shut down, according to an investigation into the launch from SpaceX and the FAA. After that launch, SpaceX said it made “several hardware and operational changes” to the spacecraft. In the eighth launch, SpaceX said the “most probable root cause” was “a hardware failure in one of the upper stage’s center Raptor engines that resulted in inadvertent propellant mixing and ignition.” SpaceX also pointed out that even though the two “failures” of the seventh and eighth launches “manifested at a similar point in the flight timeline,” the causes were "distinctly different.”
Musk’s comments about the launch. Musk was set to hold a press conference to give an update on SpaceX’s “plan to make life multiplanetary” early Tuesday afternoon, but he and SpaceX postponed it until after the launch.
Forbes estimates Musk has a net worth of around $431.9 billion as of Tuesday evening, making him the wealthiest person in the world. SpaceX, 42% of which is believed to be owned by Musk, is worth $350 billion based on a private share sale in December 2024.
Elon Musk Defends Second-Straight Explosion For SpaceX's Starship As 'Minor Setback' (Forbes)
SpaceX's Seventh Starship Launch Ends With 'Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly’ (Forbes)