SpaceX Starship loses engines during 8th test flight ascent; booster caught by 'chopsticks'
Starship test flight 8 (SpaceX)
BOCA CHICA, Texas - SpaceX once again suffered another failure of its Starship rocket Thursday evening after it lost most of its engines during the ascent phase and lost altitude control.
What we know:
The company's eighth test flight of its Starship rocket started just inside the 5:30 p.m CT launch window.
Attached to a Super Heavy booster rocket, the launch was successful.
The ship successfully detached from the booster and ignited all its onboard engines as the booster started back to Starbase.
Around eight minutes into the test flight the Starship started losing engines and ultimately lost control around 40 seconds before the end of its ascent phase.
About a minute later, SpaceX said on its live stream that engineers had lost contact with the ship and that debris response areas were being set up.
Mechazilla
The test wasn't a complete failure as SpaceX's launch tower, Mechazilla, made its third successful "chopsticks" catch on the returning Super Heavy booster.
What we don't know:
It'll likely be a day or two before SpaceX reveals what went wrong on the this test flight.
The backstory:
SpaceX has been trying to launch since Friday, in what would be its first Starship launch since their January test ended in an explosion.
The Starship rocket is expected to take off from SpaceX's Starbase launch pad, outside of Brownsville, Texas, for its eighth test flight.
Flight delays
Monday's flight was delayed after the launch countdown was paused after issues were discovered on the booster and the Starship. The company thought the issues were fixed and again started to count down before more issues were discovered with the booster rocket and the launch was scrubbed, according to the company's live stream.
What are they testing?
SpaceX has laid out several goals for its next test flight.
The Starship is expected to deploy four Starlink simulators as a test. The simulators are expected to be destroyed on reentry.
The test is focused on the Starship's return and stress testing its reentry capabilities.
The company said they were testing several different metallic tile options to test alternative materials for protecting the ship on reentry and removing a "significant number" of tiles to stress-test vulnerable areas of the ship.
The test will also look to improve on the accuracy of the launch tower's "chopsticks" that catch returning rockets.
The backstory:
The company made its seventh test flight of Starship and their Super Heavy rocket on Jan. 16, 2025.
After launch, the Starship successfully separated from the booster rocket, but started experiencing problems two minutes later when a flash was seen in the rear of the ship between the ship's liquid oxygen tank and heat shield. Two minutes after that, a fire started in that section, leading to engine shutdowns and eventually triggering the ship's safety system, which led to the ship breaking apart.
In a report issued by SpaceX, the company said the ship's safety system and "Flight Termination System" worked as they were intended when the ship exploded.
"The most probable root cause for the loss of ship was identified as a harmonic response several times stronger in flight than had been seen during testing, which led to increased stress on hardware in the propulsion system," SpaceX said. "The subsequent propellant leaks exceeded the venting capability of the ship’s attic area and resulted in sustained fires."
Improvements as a result of the investigation
Following the explosion, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered SpaceX to conduct a mishap investigation.
SpaceX officials said they conducted an "extended duration static fire" with the Starship they intend to use for its eighth test flight. They said they used multiple engine thrust levels and hardware configurations to recreate the vibration levels from the failed flight.
The results have led to a change in the fuel lines to the engines and adjustments to the fuel temperature.
The company is also making changes to the rear portion that caught on fire during the last launch by adding more vents and a new purge system.
The Source: Information on Thursday's proposed launch time and goals comes from SpaceX. The reason behind Monday's canceled test flight comes from the SpaceX live stream. The results of the failed test come from reports from the mishap investigation ordered by the FAA.