{"id":9902,"date":"2025-03-07T22:29:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/starship-upper-stage-lost-in-second-mishap-in-a-row\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T22:29:00","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T14:29:00","slug":"starship-upper-stage-lost-in-second-mishap-in-a-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/starship-upper-stage-lost-in-second-mishap-in-a-row\/","title":{"rendered":"Starship upper stage lost in second mishap in a row"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Starship upper stage suffered multiple premature engine shutdowns, as indicated in telemetry shown at bottom right. Flight control was lost and the spacecraft broke apart in a spectacular shower of debris. It was the Starship program\u2019s second upper stage failure in a row. Image: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SpaceX launched its huge Starship rocket on the program\u2019s eighth test flight Thursday, but a malfunction of some sort triggered multiple upper stage engine shutdowns and for the second flight in a row, the vehicle failed to reach its planned sub-orbital altitude and broke apart in a shower of debris.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, a lot to go through, a lot to dig through. We\u2019re going to go right at it,\u201d said SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot. \u201cThe primary reason we do these flight tests is to learn. We have some more to learn about this vehicle, but we\u2019re going to be right back here in the not-too-distant future, and we\u2019re going to get a ship to space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Added commentator Kate Tice: \u201cWe fly to learn, and we\u2019re learning a lot. As is the case with developmental programs  such as the Starship program, progress isn\u2019t always linear.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three days after a last-minute scrub due to unspecified technical issues, SpaceX fired up the Super Heavy first stage\u2019s 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines at 6:30 p.m. EST. Two seconds later, the tallest, most powerful rocket in the world majestically lifted off from the company\u2019s launch site on the Texas Gulf Coast.<\/p>\n

Capable of generating up to 16 million pounds of thrust \u2014 more than twice the power as NASA\u2019s Saturn 5 moon rocket \u2014 the Super Heavy-Starship arced away to the east atop of long jet of flame, thrilling spectators gathered on nearby South Padre Island just up the coast from SpaceX\u2019s Boca Chica, Texas, launch site.<\/p>\n

After boosting the Starship upper stage out of the dense lower atmosphere, the 230-foot-tall, 30-foot-wide Super Heavy first stage booster flew itself back to the launch site and into the grasp of two giant mechanical arms known as \u201cchopsticks\u201d mounted on the side of the launch tower.<\/p>\n

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The Super Heavy booster successfully flew itself back to the launch pad for capture by two giant mechanical arms. It was SpaceX\u2019s third successful booster catch in a row. Image: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The chopsticks closed around the slowly descending booster, locking onto structural capture fixtures on both sides of the rocket. The dramatic launch pad capture, SpaceX\u2019s third, is a key element in the company\u2019s plan to enable rapid refurbishment and reuse.<\/p>\n

The 160-foot-tall Starship upper stage, meanwhile, climbed toward space as planned on the power of six Raptor engines, appearing to work flawlessly as it soared skyward toward the planned sub-orbital trajectory.<\/p>\n

But about eight minutes and 20 seconds after liftoff, telemetry shown on SpaceX\u2019s live webcast indicated four of the six engines had prematurely shut down. A camera on the Starship showed the spacecraft starting to spin about, clearly out of control. Several seconds later contact was lost.<\/p>\n

Multiple videos posted on YouTube showed a spectacular shower of debris arcing back toward Earth after the vehicle broke up. It wasn\u2019t immediately clear if the breakup was triggered by the Starship\u2019s self-destruct system or by extreme structural loads as it fell back into the lower atmosphere.<\/p>\n

While SpaceX will no doubt attempt its usual rapid recovery, the Federal Aviation Administration will almost certainly order another failure investigation. Given two destructive breakups in a row, it could take longer to return to flight status this time around.<\/p>\n

The flight plan called for a battery of tests, including the deployment of four simulated Starlink satellites to test the Starship\u2019s payload release system, the in-space restart of one of the rocket\u2019s Raptor engines and tests of new heat shield materials and components needed for the eventual pad capture of returning Starships.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the sub-orbital flight, the Starship was expected fall back into the atmosphere belly first. Once past the region of maximum atmospheric heating, the rocket was programmed to flip into a vertical orientation before settling to a tail-first rocket-powered \u201csoft landing\u201d in the Indian Ocean near Australia.<\/p>\n

But it was not to be.<\/p>\n

During the program\u2019s seventh integrated flight test, or IFT, in January, a fire developed just above the Super Heavy first stage engines and contact was lost eight minutes and 20 seconds after launch.<\/p>\n

Three minutes after that, the rocket\u2019s self-destruct system triggered an explosion that broke the Starship apart, producing a spectacular shower of flaming debris that rained down along the flight path.<\/p>\n

Telemetry indicated the fire broke out after propellant lines leading to one of the Raptors ruptured due to unexpected harmonic vibrations. SpaceX carried out a 60-second engine test firing of the Starship launched Monday, studying responses to various thrust levels.<\/p>\n

Based on the test results, propellant feed lines were modified, fuel temperatures were changed and thrust levels were adjusted to avoid any such harmonic responses. Additional vents were installed in the area where the fire broke out and a nitrogen purge system was added to minimize the chance of fire.<\/p>\n

It was not immediately known what went wrong Thursday.<\/p>\n

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The Super Heavy-Starship rocket blasts off from SpaceX\u2019s Boca Chica, Texas, launch site, kicking off the program\u2019s eighth test flight. Image: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Working the bugs out of the Super Heavy-Starship is critical to both SpaceX and NASA. SpaceX is under contract to NASA to supply a modified Starship to carry astronauts to landings near the moon\u2019s south pole in the agency\u2019s Artemis program.<\/p>\n

To get a Starship lander to the moon, SpaceX must first get it into low-Earth orbit, then launch multiple Super Heavy-Starship \u201ctankers\u201d to refuel the moon-bound Starship for the trip to lunar orbit.<\/p>\n

The astronauts will launch atop NASA\u2019s Space Launch System rocket and fly to the moon aboard a Lockheed Martin-built Orion capsule. The crew will transfer to the waiting Starship for the descent to the lunar surface. NASA hopes to send the first woman and the next man to the moon in the 2027-28 timeframe, after an unpiloted Starship moon landing.<\/p>\n

Rapid reusability is a key element of the program given the number of Super Heavy-Starships that will be required for a single moon landing. Multiple successful test flights will be needed to perfect the system and demonstrate the reliability required to carry astronauts.<\/p>\n

The latest mishap comes amid ambitious SpaceX plans for major upgrades to the company\u2019s facilities at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, building a 380-foot-tall building where Super Heavy boosters and Starships can be refurbished and processed for launch from one and possibly two Florida launch pads.<\/p>\n

The towering \u201cGigabay\u201d facility will provide 46.5 million cubic space for processing with 815,000 square feet of work space. Construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2026. Another facility is planned where Starships can be built from scratch in Florida, similar to a facility already in place at Boca Chica.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo enable initial Starship flights from Florida while our Space Coast Starship manufacturing, integration, and refurbishment facilities are being completed, we will first transport completed Super Heavy boosters and Starship upper stage ships from Starbase via barge to build up a Starship fleet in Florida,\u201d SpaceX said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith production, integration, refurbishment, and launch facilities in Florida as well as Texas, we will be in a position to quickly ramp Starship\u2019s launch rate via rapid reusability.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Starship upper stage suffered multiple premature engine shutdowns, as indicated in telemetry shown at bottom right. Flight control was lost and the spacecraft broke apart in a spectacular shower of debris. It was the Starship program\u2019s second upper stage failure in a row. Image: SpaceX SpaceX launched its huge Starship rocket on the program\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[316,317,1177],"class_list":["post-9902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-spacex","tag-starship","tag-starship-flight-8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9902\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}