Overview

• Starship lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas on May 27 for its ninth uncrewed test, aiming to reach suborbital trajectory and deploy eight mock Starlink satellites.
• The flight marked the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster, which separated as planned but broke apart during its splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
• A propellant leak led to a loss of attitude control about 30 minutes into the mission, triggering a rapid unscheduled disassembly of the spacecraft over the Indian Ocean.
• Payload bay doors failed to open properly, canceling the intended deployment of simulated satellites and limiting on-orbit objectives.
• Elon Musk described the test as a "big improvement" and announced plans to accelerate Starship launches to every three to four weeks, a pace NASA needs to meet its 2027 Artemis lunar goals.