SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit But Misses Key Targets

Vehicle travels further than it did on its previous two missions but fails to make it back to Earth in one piece.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 at 01:00 PM ET

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SpaceX’s Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster lift off on their ninth integrated test flight from the company’s launch pad in Texas. [Courtesy: SpaceX livestream]

Key Takeaways:

SpaceX's Starship Flight 9 achieved key milestones by successfully reaching orbit for the first time and utilizing a previously flown Super Heavy booster, avoiding past ascent issues.
Despite these successes, the mission encountered new critical failures, including Starship losing attitude control during reentry, failing to deploy its payload, and the Super Heavy booster experiencing an explosion.
These failures led to the loss of vital reentry performance data, which could hinder progress on Starship's reusability and impact SpaceX's ambitious launch cadence, as well as its role in NASA's Artemis moon missions.

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The ninth integrated test flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster avoided previous issues but encountered new ones as the company aims to ramp up launches this year.

Let’s begin with the good. Flight 9 marked the first time SpaceX used a previously flown Super Heavy booster, which was caught back at the launch pad by a pair of giant metal chopsticks in January and refurbished for Tuesday’s mission.

Jack Daleo

Jack is a staff writer covering advanced air mobility, including everything from drones to unmanned aircraft systems to space travel—and a whole lot more. He spent close to two years reporting on drone delivery for FreightWaves, covering the biggest news and developments in the space and connecting with industry executives and experts. Jack is also a basketball aficionado, a frequent traveler and a lover of all things logistics.