Elon Musk’s SpaceX launches Starship but loses control mid-flight within 30 minutes, crashes into Indian Ocean | Watch video

In a groundbreaking move for aerospace engineering, SpaceX launched the ninth integrated test flight of its Starship Super Heavy system from Starbase in South Texas on Tuesday evening. Unlike previous missions aimed at precision landings, this flight intentionally ended in a powerful splashdown. The goal was to gather critical data on the rocket's structural limits and boost progress toward full reusability. This dramatic crash was a calculated experiment, marking a pivotal step in SpaceX’s mission to create reliable, reusable launch systems for future space exploration, including routine missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

SpaceX Starship lost control in mid-flight causing mission to end with ocean crash

At 7:36 p.m. EDT (2336 GMT), the completely integrated Starship launch vehicle — consisting of the upper-stage Starship spacecraft riding on top of the Super Heavy booster — departed from SpaceX's Starbase complex on the Gulf Coast near Brownsville, Texas.

The launch was live-streamed on SpaceX's webcast, with observers seeing the rocket rise into the evening sky. The firing of Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines created a powerful plume of fire, exhaust, and water vapor, marking another milestone in the company's long-term build-out of fully reusable spaceflight systems.

For the first time, a previously launched Super Heavy booster powered a Starship flight — an important step toward SpaceX's larger goal of routine, reusable spaceflight. This specific booster had been upgraded since its previous mission and was being asked to prove it could withstand repeated launches and touchdowns.A few minutes into flight, the first-stage booster broke away from the upper-stage Starship vehicle as anticipated. But SpaceX lost communication with the booster during descent, and it's thought to have crashed into the ocean instead of executing the controlled splashdown SpaceX had intended. This kept engineers from capturing the full range of descent and landing data, though initial flight data will still be helpful.

Satellite release failure highlights in Starship upper stage testing

At the same time, the Starship upper stage of the rocket pressed onward, reaching its planned suborbital track well within nine minutes after liftoff. That part of the mission was intended to mimic future deep space flight conditions and to subject essential systems to stresses at high altitude.One of the significant failures was during mid-flight: payload doors that were supposed to open and release a set of Starlink simulator satellites malfunctioned and did not work correctly. This compromised one of the upper stage's important demonstration goals.

SpaceX faces re-entry challenges as Starship spins out of control

The mission was to conclude with a controlled splashdown and re-entry of the Starship upper stage in the Indian Ocean, just under 90 minutes after launch. However, near the 30-minute mark of the mission, SpaceX engineers saw a loss of attitude control, which resulted in the spacecraft starting to spin out of control.A SpaceX commentator recognized the problem on the live stream: "We won't be in sync the way we wanted it to be synchronized for entry… Our odds of coming all the way down are fairly low."This rotation obstructed Starship from following its descent trajectory properly, probably resulting in a catastrophic re-entry into the atmosphere of the Earth.

Recent Starship test failures raise questions on reliability and safety compliance

It was only four days since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued SpaceX a fresh flight permit. This came after a comprehensive inquiry into the two previous failed test flights in early January and March 2025 that had resulted in devastating explosions soon after liftoff.These earlier failures showered the Caribbean with debris, resulted in flight path interference for commercial carriers, and prompted the FAA to increase safety zones and monitoring for subsequent launches. Over the regulatory obstacles, SpaceX forged ahead — a testament to its high-speed, iterative engineering process. What is particularly egregious about these failures is that they came during flight phases that had long been mastered by SpaceX. These were not maiden attempts — they were regression points for areas the company had already overcome with previous tests. This has called into question the reliability and consistency of both hardware and software systems, particularly as SpaceX aims to scale quickly. Elon Musk had hoped to step up Starship's test schedule in 2025, but the succession of malfunctions could hold back progress in the near term.

Elon Musk’s vision: Starship as the future of space exploration

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and one of the planet's most high-profile tech moguls, has for years kept Starship at the center of his mission to establish a human settlement on Mars and transform the availability of space. His vision is to build a reusable, multipurpose launch system that will take people and cargo to the Moon, Mars, and other destinations.Musk also suggested employing Starship as a replacement for the existing workhorse of SpaceX's satellite launch activity, the Falcon 9. With a height of 400 feet (122 meters), Starship will be capable of more payload than any previous rocket, with potential for humongous commercial and scientific missions.In addition to exploration, Starship would eventually replace the Falcon 9 for launching satellites into low-Earth orbit. SpaceX already dominates the world launch market today, with the majority of private and government satellite placements, as well as its own Starlink internet constellation. But that shift hinges on Starship demonstrating it can fly consistently — a milestone yet to be reached after a succession of rogue descents and equipment malfunctions in recent tests.Also Read | Watch | NASA astronaut captures rare Northern Lights aurora display over North America from the International Space Station