Starship V2 · Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Starship Flight 9

First reflight of a Super Heavy booster. Booster lost on an experimental descent; ship reached space but lost control and both stages were lost.

Result: Failure
Super Heavy: Lost
Starship: Lost
Duration: ~46 min

Photo: SpaceX

Flight replay

Watch Starship Flight 9

Video: VideoFromSpace (Space.com), not SpaceX. Watch SpaceX's official webcast.

The flight

What Happened

The first flight to reuse a flown Super Heavy booster (booster B14-2, from Flight 7). The booster was lost over the Gulf during an experimental high-angle-of-attack descent test rather than a catch. Starship reached space but lost attitude control, attributed to a leak, and could not complete a controlled reentry, and was lost over the Indian Ocean.

Firsts

First reflight of a Super Heavy booster

Flight path

The typical Starship flight plan. SpaceX publishes no minute-by-minute timeline for this flight. A dashed line is a stage that did not finish its plan.

Two stages

Booster and Ship

Super Heavy boosterLost: Lost over the Gulf during an experimental descent test
Starship upper stageLost: Reached space but lost attitude control; lost over the Indian Ocean

Objectives

First reuse of a flown Super Heavy booster
Experimental booster descent profile
Controlled Starship reentry

Anomalies

Booster lost during experimental descent
Ship lost attitude control due to a leak