Overview

• On May 27, SpaceX launched its ninth Starship test from Starbase with a flight-proven Super Heavy booster, achieving scheduled engine cutoff.
• A payload bay door malfunction prevented the deployment of eight simulated Starlink satellites, cancelling that mission objective.
• Contact was lost with the booster during its descent burn, and it broke apart upon splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
• A fuel leak led to loss of attitude control during reentry, causing the spacecraft to undergo a rapid unscheduled disassembly.
• The FAA cleared this flight after investigating prior failures, and NASA depends on Starship’s performance for its Artemis lunar missions.