SpaceX Starship Flight 9 Will Suspend More Than 70 Air Routes, Attempt New Goals

FAA says back-to-back explosions on previous flights necessitate larger airspace closures.

Jack Daleo

Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at 01:18 PM ET

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Jack Daleo

SpaceX’s Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster are set for their ninth integrated test flight following back-to-back mishaps. [Courtesy: SpaceX]

Key Takeaways:

SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 is set to launch after investigations into previous explosions, with the FAA significantly expanding the aircraft hazard area due to past reliability issues.
This flight will utilize a refurbished Super Heavy booster and aims for new milestones, including Starship's first orbital payload deployment and in-space engine relight, alongside experimental booster maneuvers.
The mission is critical developmental testing to achieve rapid reusability for Starship, essential for increasing launch cadence, supporting NASA's lunar missions, and furthering multiplanetary ambitions.

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SpaceX’s colossal Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster are poised to return to action Tuesday evening after the company wrapped up its investigation into the 400-foot-tall vehicle’s eighth test flight in March. Starship exploded during both that mission and Flight 7 in January, disrupting air travel and prompting the FAA to nearly double the aircraft hazard area (AHA) for Tuesday’s flight.

“The Starship vehicle mishaps from Flights 7 and 8 caused a greater probability of failure of the vehicle and, therefore, a larger AHA,” the FAA said in an environmental assessment noting the airspace closures. “These AHAs define the temporarily closed airspace that would be established and published through a NOTAM prior to the launch/reentry.”