Flight 9: SpaceX Launches Starship Test Mission, With Super Heavy Reused For The First Time

SpaceX launched its ninth Starship test flight (Flight 9) on May 27 at 2337 UTC, from its Starbase facility in Texas. The mission featured the first-ever significant reuse of a Super Heavy booster (B14-2), which had previously flown on January 16, 2025. Despite reaching space and achieving the scheduled engine cutoff with no significant loss of heat shield tiles, the spacecraft (Ship 35) lost control due to a fuel leak and spun out of control, leading to its rapid unscheduled disassembly(RUD) during reentry over the Indian Ocean.

"Starship made it to the scheduled ship engine cutoff, so big improvement over last flight!," SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk posted on X. "Also, no significant loss of heat shield tiles during ascent. Leaks caused loss of main tank pressure during the coast and re-entry phase. Lot of good data to review."

SpaceX also shared a statement on X, emphasizing 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 mission aimed to deploy eight dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites and test the vehicle's reentry system with 100 removed heat-shield tiles 

The Super Heavy booster (B14-2) conducted a variety of experiments on its way back down to Earth, including a controlled return flip and a higher angle of attack to increase atmospheric drag. However the booster, which SpaceX already said will be expended, broke apart about 6 minutes and 20 seconds into the flight, just after beginning its landing burn.

The upper stage(Ship 35) reached space and followed a suborbital trajectory over the Atlantic Ocean. However, it encountered issues with the payload door, which couldn't open fully, and later suffered a fuel leak and spinning instability, leading to the loss of attitude control and the decision to abandon the planned engine relight and soft splashdown.

SpaceX plans to continue its iterative development model, making hardware changes and conducting engine trials to improve the system's reliability. The company aims to make the Starship platform more reliable through rapid iteration and hardware upgrades informed by each flight.

"Launch cadence for next 3 flights will be faster, at approximately 1 every 3 to 4 weeks," Musk added in the X post.