SpaceX Starship Upper Stage Loses Control, Destroyed In Setback

SpaceX suffered another setback during the latest test of its Starship-Super Heavy launch system when it lost the Starship upper stage for the second mission in a row.

After several launch delays that pushed the flight beyond SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s target to fly again in February, Starship took off from Boca Chica, Texas, at around 6:30 p.m. EST on March 6.

But at about 8 min. and 30 sec. into flight Starship—in the final 20 or 30 sec. of its ascent burn—lost several engines and attitude control. The vehicle seemed to spin and a minute or so later, cameras on the vehicle stopped broadcasting.

Images on social media taken by people in the Caribbean showed the apparent breakup of Starship as fiery debris streaked across the evening sky.

SpaceX was attempting to successfully deploy Starlink satellite representative payloads for the first time from Starship. This was the super-heavy rocket system’s eighth flight test.

Despite the failure of the system’s upper stage, SpaceX repeated its feat of flying the Super Heavy first stage back to the launch site and catching it in its “Mechazilla” structure.

SpaceX CEo Elon Musk called it "a minor setback" and said the next Starship would be ready in 4-6 weeks. 

SpaceX had made design changes to the Starship launch system for the latest test in response to the failure linked to a harmonic response that stressed the onboard hardware, leading to a fire and loss of the vehicle. Those include changes to fuel feedlines connecting the vacuum engines, propellant temperature changes and a new operating thrust target.

The objectives set for the test include validating technology it was not able to test during the failed seventh flight and system upgrades. In addition to deploying the four Starlink simulators sized to replicate the next generation of its low-Earth-orbit communications satellite system, the upper stage also aimed to relight a Raptor engine while in space.

The company was seeking to collect data on the upper stage’s heat shield as it looks to progress to recovering the upper stage. It planned to have a reentry profile that would stress the structural limits of the upper stage’s rear flaps during maximum entry dynamic pressure, the company said before the flight. “A significant number of tiles have been removed from Starship to stress test vulnerable areas across the vehicle. Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry,” it said.

The Super Heavy booster also sported upgrades, including a more powerful flight computer, and upgraded power and network distribution.

The company has other upgrades in the works, including introducing the more streamlined Raptor 3.