SpaceX’s seventh flight of its Starship rocket was a combination of great success and catastrophic loss, with a catch of its Super Heavy booster at the launch tower and the failure of the Starship upper stage as it climbed to space.
Beginning around seven minutes and 40 seconds into the flight, SpaceX’s on-screen telemetry data began to show one Raptor engine after another turn off on the Ship until the telemetry froze at eight minutes and 27 seconds.
In a post to his social media site, X, SpaceX founder Elon Musk described what engineers believe at this early stage to be the issue.
“Preliminary indication is that we had an oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall that was large enough to build pressure in excess of the vent capacity,” Musk said. “Apart from obviously double-checking for leaks, we will add fire suppression to that volume and probably increase vent area. Nothing so far suggests pushing next launch past next month.”
The launch began nominally, with the more than 400-foot-tall rocket lumbering off of the pad at 4:37 p.m. CST (5:37 p.m. EST (2237 UTC). The mission featured the first flight of the Block 2 variant of the upper stage.
The 33 Raptor engines on the booster powered it down range as expected and beginning about two minutes and 30 seconds into the mission, most of them cut off and the six Raptor engines on the Ship sprang to life to begin carrying it towards space.
The booster performed a flip maneuver and another burn to put it on a course towards the launch tower. The Super Heavy booster, B14, performed a final landing burn about 6 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff and before seven minutes were up, it was caught by the tower.
The elation of the crowds and the commentators didn’t last long before it became apparent that something was amiss on the upper stage.
The engines began shutting off out of sequence and more than a minute prior to the planed engine cutoff, which was scheduled to happen nearly nine minutes into the flight.
Multiple videos posted to social media appeared to show the breakup of the vehicle. The Federal Aviation Administration issued directives to multiple airports to delay or divert traffic to avoid falling debris.
First night in Turks and Caicos and we’re on the beach and see this.
— KingDomRedux (@KingDomRedux) January 16, 2025
Airpots impacted included Miami International Airport and Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. Shortly before 8 p.m. EST (0100 UTC), the agency issued an all clear.
“The FAA briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area where space vehicle debris was falling. Normal operations have resumed,” the agency wrote.
The FAA has the purview to activate what’s called a Debris Response Area if there’s a case, like with Flight 7, where there is an anomaly with a space vehicle outside of the previously identified closed hazard areas.
Asked whether the agency will require a mishap investigation into the breakup, the FAA said it was “aware an anomaly occurred,” adding that it was still “assessing the operation and will issue and updated statement.”
The anomaly prevented SpaceX from executing a number of milestone it planned for S33, including deploying 10 Starlink simulators along a suborbital trajectory and performing and in-space relight of one of the Raptor engines.
Starship’s continued development is key not only for its own corporate ambitions, but also for its role as the lander that NASA will use during the Artemis 3 and 4 Moon landing missions. The first is schedule to take place by mid-2027.
“Congratulations to @SpaceX on Starship’s seventh test flight and the second successful booster catch,” said Bill Nelson, the outgoing NASA administrator in a post on X. “Spaceflight is not easy. It’s anything but routine. That’s why these tests are so important—each one bringing us closer on our path to the Moon and onward to Mars through #Artemis.”
