Upper-Stage Breaks Up After Ascent, First Stage Booster Caught Successfully

SpaceX launched its Starship spacecraft for the seventh time on January 16. After a clean launch and first-stage booster catch, SpaceX was forced to accept that the rocket’s upper stage had been lost in the flight.

The Super Heavy-Starship rocket launched just after 5:30 pm from SpaceX’s test facility in Boca Chica, Texas. It had been delayed twice in the last couple of weeks due to poor weather conditions.

All 33 of the Super Heavy booster’s Raptor engines fired up, blasting the spacecraft into the atmosphere. Once the two stages split, SpaceX determined that conditions were favorable to attempt to catch the booster. This was last completed during the fifth launch test in 2024 but was skipped during the sixth.

Super Heavy made its way back to the launch site and precisely lowered itself into Mechazilla’s “chopsticks” for a successful catch. Starship, however, wasn’t so fortunate.

Five minutes after Starship split off and lit up its six engines, one of the three inner engines flamed out. Mere seconds later, more began to follow suit. This left only one engine online by the eight-and-a-half-minute mark. All communications were cut with the ship, and SpaceX’s Dan Huot and Kate Tice confirmed that Starship was lost.

"Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly during its ascent burn,” SpaceX revealed in a social media post. “Teams will continue to review data from today's flight test to better understand root cause. With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's flight will help us improve Starship's reliability."

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk listed an “oxygen/fuel leak in the cavity above the ship engine firewall” as the preliminary cause. He stated that the team would be looking for the source of the leak, adding fire suppression, and potentially increasing the vent area before the next launch.

The Federal Aviation Administration responded to the incident, reporting that debris from the “anomaly” delayed airlines at Miami International (MIA) and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International (FLL) airports. The agency will likely conduct a painfully long and thorough investigation before SpaceX can launch Starship again.

FMI: www.spacex.com