SpaceX Starship Spins Out After Successful Launch, But It Didn't Explode This Time
SpaceX's latest launch of its Starship rockets was more successful than the past couple, but it still ended its launch out of control, eventually crashing down in the Indian Ocean. It did make it into orbit, though, and the claimed issues from previously explosive launches appear to have been fixed. This was also the first time Starship has used a refurbished first-stage booster.
Starship is SpaceX's next-generation rocket and the largest one ever designed. If it ever reaches the same reliability for regular use as the long-running Falcon 9, it will have the ability to transport between 100 and 200 tonnes into low Earth orbit. Unfortunately, 2025 has seen Starship stumble, with two out of three launches ending in catastrophic explosions of the new Block 2 booster design, for various reasons.
SpaceX will be largely happy with this latest launch, then, despite the problems it faced. The first stage booster completed its burn successfully and separated without issue. While the first-stage booster turned and began its burn back toward the launchpad for an intended splashdown landing, the Starship upper stage continued on, burning for a few more minutes to achieve "nominal orbital insertion."
Unfortunately, that's when some issues cropped up. Initially, the cargo bay doors failed to open, so the dummy Starlink satellites couldn't be deployed. And then SpaceX lost control of the spacecraft.
"Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and reentry phase," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained on Twitter/X. This loss of tank pressure meant that the Starship team lost the ability to control the ship's attitude, which led to the upper stage entering an uncontrolled spin.
This meant that the Starship wasn't going to be able to hold its orbit, and a decision was made to bring it down as carefully as possible. All remaining fuel was vented and at around 46 minutes into its flight, Starship went dark and broke up into pieces over the Indian Ocean, as per Ars Technica. This was at least in its intended flight path, however, so there should be no danger of damage to human life or property due to falling debris.
That wasn't the end to the launch woes, though. The first-stage booster also suffered an unknown issue, exploding soon after igniting its engines again for re-entry. That brought an explosive end to the first re-used Starship booster.
SpaceX has announced plans to continue with launches of one Starship every three to four weeks for the rest of the year, with plans to introduce a new Block 3 design before the end of 2025 with greater lift capacity, and a new Raptor engine with greater reliability.
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