What happened on last Starship flight? SpaceX releases report ahead of next test
SpaceX has released the findings of its investigation into the most recent explosion of the company's Starship as the massive launch vehicle prepares to get off the ground once again.
The previous flight test in March ended with the Starship's upper portion breaking apart in the sky in second consecutive fiery mishap for a vehicle due to play a large role in U.S. spaceflight in the years ahead. An ongoing investigation into the flight is what held up SpaceX from launching Starship again from South Texas.
But regulators decided earlier in May to allow billionaire Elon Musk's company to move forward with its next test mission, referred to as Flight 9, after determining that SpaceX met all licensing requirements. That included submitting to the Federal Aviation Administration a report on the Flight 8 mishap, which SpaceX said ultimately prompted mission teams to make several modifications to the vehicle for its next launch.
"Starship is designed to fundamentally change and enhance humanity's ability to reach space," SpaceX wrote on its website under a post titled, "Fly. Learn. Repeat." "This step change in capability won't happen overnight and progress towards that goal won't always come in leaps."
Here's what SpaceX determined caused the March explosion of Starship, as well as what to expect for the upcoming flight test.
Starship Flight 9: Here's what SpaceX is planning for the launch
SpaceX has announced that it is targeting Tuesday, May 27, for Starship's ninth flight test. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET from SpaceX's Starbase, the company's headquarters in Boca Chica about 23 miles from Brownsville near the U.S.-Mexico border.
The launch got the green light May 21 after the FAA determined that SpaceX met 'all of the rigorous safety, environmental and other licensing requirements.'
How to watch Starship: SpaceX to provide livestream of South Texas launch
The first two Starship tests of 2025 have been marred by explosions.
In the most recent launch March 6, flight operators lost contact with the upper portion of Starship, which exploded less than 10 minutes into the flight, creating debris visible from Florida to the Caribbean.
Despite the failure of the Starship vehicle, the spacecraft's rocket booster managed to navigate back to the launch pad for the second time in a row, and third time overall. The maneuver, first completed in October 2024, involves SpaceX catching the booster with giant mechanical arms known as chopsticks.
After the first Starship demonstration of 2025 also ended in an explosion, SpaceX later traced the culprit to a series of propellant leaks and fires in the aft section of the vehicle, commonly referred to as the attic.
But in the latest fiery mishap in March, it wasn't a fire in the attic, but rather a "flash" closer to the bottom section, SpaceX wrote May 22. Mission operators noticed the flash about five-and-a-half minutes into Starship's ascent burn, followed by what SpaceX called "an energetic event" that led to the loss of one of its Raptor engines.
Within about two minutes, the remaining five of the vehicle's six Raptor engines also subsequently shut down, causing the vehicle to veer out of control. This led to the communication breakdown and the vehicle to trigger its own self destruction, SpaceX concluded.
Starship eventually reentered Earth's atmosphere within its designated launch corridor and broke apart.
SpaceX identified "the most probably root cause" of the mishap as a hardware failure in one of the upper stage's Raptor engines "that resulted in inadvertent propellant mixing and ignition."
"Extensive ground testing has taken place since the flight test to better understand the failure, including more than 100 long-duration Raptor firings," SpaceX wrote.
The company has frequently stressed that its rapid and frequent testing are expected to sometimes lead to such explosive ends, but that even failed launches can provide data that helps engineers improve Starship's design.
After SpaceX submitted a mishap report to the FAA, the agency released a statement May 22 indicating it had "conducted a comprehensive safety review of the SpaceX Starship Flight 8 mishap."
After federal regulators determined that SpaceX "satisfactorily addressed the causes of the mishap," Starship was approved to return to flight.
For Starship's next launch, SpaceX released a flight plan that calls for attempting a few key objectives to prepare Starship for more frequent flights.
SpaceX will also take a third shot at a Starlink payload deployment test – a key capability for the vehicle in the future that was called off during both previous launches. The eight Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites, will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to burn up on reentry.
SpaceX intends to reuse for the first time a Super Heavy booster rocket that has launched before. For that reason, the FAA also noted that it would expand the size of the hazard zones designating areas for aircraft to avoid.
SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. In the years ahead, Starship is intended to carry both cargo and humans to Earth's orbit and deeper into the cosmos.
NASA's lunar exploration plans, which appear to be in jeopardy under President Donald Trump's proposed budget, call for Artemis III astronauts aboard the Orion capsule to board the Starship while in orbit for a ride to the moon's surface.
But Musk is more preoccupied with Starship reaching Mars – potentially, he has claimed, by the end of 2026. Under his vision, human expeditions aboard the Starship could then follow in the years after the first uncrewed spacecraft reaches the Red Planet.
Starship is regarded as the world's largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.
At more than 400 total feet in height, Starship towers over SpaceX's famous Falcon 9 rocket – one of the world's most active – which stands at nearly 230 feet.
The launch vehicle is composed of both a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage spacecraft, or capsule or crew and cargo would ride.
Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor engines that give the initial burst of thrust at liftoff. The upper section, also called Starship or Ship for short, is the upper stage powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why did Starship explode? SpaceX releases report ahead of next test
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