Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship Flight Test Ends in Failure After In-Flight Disintegration

Florida (USA), 7th March 2025: SpaceX’s eighth flight test of the Starship rocket, led by CEO Elon Musk, ended in failure Thursday when the vehicle experienced a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” during its ascent. The incident occurred shortly after liftoff at 5:30 p.m. CT, causing the loss of contact with the spacecraft.

SpaceX announced the failure in a statement on X (formerly Twitter), explaining that the team had immediately begun coordinating with safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency measures. “We will review the data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause,” the company stated, emphasizing that the mission’s findings would contribute to improving Starship’s reliability.

The flight test was intended to achieve several key objectives, including Starship’s first payload deployment and multiple reentry experiments aimed at returning the upper stage to the launch site for a catch. Additionally, the mission included the launch, return, and catch of the Super Heavy booster.

Significant upgrades had been made to the Starship’s upper stage following the previous test’s failure, including enhancements to avionics, propulsion systems, and heat protection mechanisms. The test also involved deploying four Starlink simulators and executing a relight of a single Raptor engine while in space.

In the event of complications, SpaceX had prepared for the Super Heavy booster to perform a soft splashdown in the Gulf of America. The upgraded booster featured enhanced avionics, a more powerful flight computer, and integrated smart batteries.

The failure marks a setback for SpaceX’s ongoing efforts to develop a fully and rapidly reusable space vehicle. The company has stated that developmental testing is inherently unpredictable but remains committed to frequent test flights to accelerate design improvements.

SpaceX has not yet provided details on the specific cause of the in-flight disintegration but is expected to release further information following a comprehensive review of the test data.