SpaceX launches the 9th Starship Flight, redeems Flight 7 and Flight 8 ship failures

On May 27, 2025, SpaceX launched its 9th Starship flight test from Starbase, Texas, and marked a successful ascent for the second stage, moving on from the failure of the past two test missions for the ship.

Starship is a two-stage rocket, designed to take heavy payloads into orbit and space, with its powerful first stage taking off from the ground with 33 Raptor engines. With the 9th Starship flight test, SpaceX formulated the first ever reuse of a super heavy rocket.

The company had replaced single-use components such as heat-shielding, but the majority of the booster’s hardware was flight-proven proven including 29 out of 33 Ratpor engines, first used during Flight 7. This booster has performed well, as all of its Raptor engines fired during liftoff.

The company didn’t attempt recovery via the launch tower due to the site and public safety. However, booster had major changes in the performance and landing burn to improve the design for future test flights.

9th Starship Test Flight lifted off from Starbase, Texas (Source – SpaceX)

You should know that the company intentionally disabled one of the three center engines to gather data on the ability of a backup engine from the middle ring to complete the landing burn. The booster started landing burn but failed to complete the sequence and sank in the Gulf of America.

On the other hand, the Ship made its way to orbit with its six Raptor engines and completed the ascent burn. This phase has been a turning point for the past two missions, where the ship experienced anomalies. The cause of the two failures is different according to SpaceX, but the region in which the hardware failure occurred was identical.

After the past two hardware failures, the ship was rigorously tested at Starbase, especially for the engines, to ensure that everything goes right during a real mission.

The ship has objectives, including Starlink simulators deployment, the engine relit, reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, and going through high-heat before landing in the Indian Ocean.

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