SpaceX has launched its seventh Starship flight test and caught the returning fuel booster in the mechanical arms of the launch tower. However, the uncrewed upper stage exploded around eight and a half minutes into the flight.
The launch occurred shortly after 9.00 am on Friday, January 17 (AEDT). Two minutes and forty five seconds later, the fuel booster separated at an altitude of 65,000 metres and Starship’s Raptor engines successfully ignited. The upper stage explosion occurred shortly after separation
Seven minutes after launch, the rocket booster made a controlled descent back to the launch pad and was caught in the tower’s mechanical arms, the so-called chopsticks.
“We caught the rocket,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on X shortly after.
It was the second time the tower’s arms had caught the rocket booster, the first been Starship’s fifth flight mission in October 2024. Plans to repeat the performance during the sixth flight test in November were dropped at the last minute.
The plan was for Starship to deploy 10 Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites as the first exercise of a massive future satellite deployment program.
“Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” says SpaceX. “Teams will continue to review data from today’s flight test to better understand root cause.”
Musk has previously said the ability to re-use space assets and deploy them at pace is critical to economically servicing the space sector. He also has a track record of risking failure and learning from that.
*Article updated at 12.30pm AEDT 17.01.25 to add news of explosion
