SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 ends in failure after booster loss: 'Success comes from what we learn'
SpaceX's ninth test flight of its Starship spacecraft, launched on May 27 from the company's Starbase facility in Texas, ended in failure shortly after liftoff. The mission aimed to deploy eight Starlink simulator satellites and test the vehicle's reentry system with 100 removed heat-shield tiles.
Despite a successful launch and initial ascent, the spacecraft began spinning uncontrollably due to a fuel system leak, rendering the heat-shield test unfeasible. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted on X following the flight test, writing, "Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight! Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent."
Spacex Launch Scrubbed Hours After Hegseth Shares Message To Rescue Mission Crew: 'Wish You Godspeed'
Shortly after reaching space, the booster stage, critical for the spacecraft's reentry, was lost during its return to the atmosphere. Additionally, the payload door failed to open during the flight.Remaining parts of the ship which do not disintegrate from the heat of reentry are expected to land in the Indian Ocean, according to the company.
This marks another setback for SpaceX's Starship program, which has faced challenges in previous tests. SpaceX has previously experienced issues with the Starship system, including an aborted flight earlier this year in April.
In a statement following the incident shared via X, SpaceX acknowledged the failure and emphasized the importance of learning from each test. "With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary," the company said.
Read On The Fox News App
Msnbc Hosts Mock Elon Musk After Spacex Mishap: 'Go Back To Your Day Job'
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been notified of the incident and is expected to conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the failure and assess any potential impact on future launches. "The FAA is aware an anomaly occurred during the SpaceX Starship Flight 9 mission that launched on Tuesday, May 27, from Starbase, Texas, and is actively working with SpaceX on the event. There are no reports of public injury or damage to public property at this time," the FAA wrote in a statement.
SpaceX has not yet announced a timeline for its next test flight but has indicated that the company will continue to refine the Starship system based on the data collected from this mission.
"Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable," SpaceX stated on their website. "But by putting hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we're able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle."
SpaceX did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.Original article source: SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 ends in failure after booster loss: 'Success comes from what we learn'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk Announces Launch of New Business Venture
It's official: Tesla is in the robotaxi industry. After revealing that Tesla would begin rolling out autonomous cabs this year, Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk announced the company is officially launching it's robotaxi service on Sunday, June 22. In a post on X, Musk revealed that the robotaxis will debut in Austin, Texas, and customers will pay a flat fee of $4.20. "The (Tesla AI) robotaxi launch begins in Austin this afternoon with customers paying a $4.20 flat fee!" Musk exclaimed. With the launch, Tesla will now look to make up ground on Waymo, which is the current king of the industry. Waymo claims to have taken 10 million paid rides in all and services several major cities, including Austin, where Tesla is debuting on Sunday. Meanwhile, Amazon is also expected to get into the industry this year. The mega corporation spent $1.2 billion to acquire Zoox about five years ago and it has since built a plant in Silicon Valley that is expected to produce 10,000 robotaxis per year. However, Amazon and Zoox are not as far along as Waymo and Tesla, with the duo set to begin its service in Las Vegas later this year, and then in San Francisco next Musk Announces Launch of New Business Venture first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 22, 2025 Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
Tesla Starts Long-Awaited Robotaxi Service With Low-Key Rollout
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. rolled out its long-promised driverless taxi service to a handful of riders Sunday, a modest debut for what Elon Musk sees as a transformative new business line. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports The first robotaxi trips were limited to a narrow portion of Tesla's hometown of Austin, with an employee in each vehicle keeping tabs on the operations. The carmaker hand-picked a friendly crop of initial riders, which featured investors and social-media influencers who live-streamed their trips. In one video, Herbert Ong, who runs a fan account, marveled over the speed of the vehicle and the ability to park autonomously. Another influencer with the @BLKMDL3 handle on X said the trip was 'smoother than a human driver.' Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor who runs an account focused on the company, called the experience 'awesome.' With no kickoff event and little in the way of formal announcements, Tesla has relied largely on word of mouth and media coverage ahead of the robotaxi launch, which comes about a decade after Musk began talking about the possibility. The unveiling was uncharacteristically low-key for a company that held a 'Cyber Rodeo' to mark a Texas factory opening in 2022 and an invite-only party near Hollywood last year to unveil autonomous products. Musk is reorienting the carmaker around hyped-but-still-unproven technologies including self-driving vehicles and humanoid robots. Some investors are counting on new markets to revive Tesla following a sales slump and consumer backlash against the chief executive officer. Its shares have tumbled 20% this year. 'Robotaxis are critical to the Tesla investment case,' Tom Narayan, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said in a note. About 60% of Narayan's valuation for the shares is attributable to the self-driving vehicles. The videos of the robotaxi launch posted Sunday were largely mundane, showing Model Y SUVs driving short distances, navigating intersections, avoiding pedestrians and parking — albeit with no one sitting in the driver's seat. There were some hiccups, like when one streamer tested a button to have the vehicle pull over and it instead briefly stopped in the middle of a road before the vehicle began moving again. The first riders are being charged a flat rate of $4.20 per trip, Musk said Sunday, though it's unclear what pricing will look like longer term. Robotaxis will be available between 6 a.m. and midnight daily within a geofenced area of the city, not including the airport, according to terms of use that some early riders posted. Service may be limited or unavailable in foul weather. The launch marks a crucial test for Tesla, which is using only 10 to 20 vehicles at first. It's aiming to show it can safely and successfully navigate real-world traffic, which has tripped up some other companies and brought regulatory scrutiny. Cruise, the now-defunct autonomy business of General Motors Co., grounded its fleet in late 2023 and had its operating license suspended in California following an accident that injured a pedestrian. Uber Technologies Inc. ceased testing self-driving vehicles after one of its SUVs struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in 2018. Less than three years later, the company agreed to sell its self-driving business. While Tesla hasn't said when the robotaxi service will open to the general public, Musk has pledged to scale up quickly and expand to other US cities in the near future. The company faces a crowded market in Austin. Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc., is scaling up in the city through a partnership with Uber. Inc.'s Zoox is also testing there. Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities who rates Tesla outperform, said he expects robotaxis to be competitive with Waymo from the start. After a member of his team rode in one Sunday, the analyst told Bloomberg the robotaxi user experience was 'better than expected.' Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
7 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Tesla Starts Long-Awaited Robotaxi Service With Low-Key Rollout
Tesla Inc. rolled out its long-promised driverless taxi service to a handful of riders Sunday, a modest debut for what Elon Musk sees as a transformative new business line. The first robotaxi trips were limited to a narrow portion of Tesla's hometown of Austin, with an employee in each vehicle keeping tabs on the operations. The carmaker hand-picked a friendly crop of initial riders, which featured investors and social-media influencers who live-streamed their trips.
