SpaceX Catches IFT-7 Booster, but Loses Starship

SpaceX Catches IFT-7 Booster, but Loses Starship

By Marcia Smith | Posted: January 16, 2025 7:25 pm ET | Last Updated: January 17, 2025 11:42 am ET

SpaceX succeeded in catching its huge Super Heavy booster back at the launch pad for the second time today, but the Starship second stage was lost. After investigating what happened, they concluded a fire developed in the aft end of the vehicle resulting in a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly, or RUD. SpaceX asserts the debris fell within the prescribed hazard area in the Caribbean and is asking anyone who finds debris not to handle it and contact them or local authorities.

Starship/Super Heavy lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas at 4:37 pm Central Time (5:37 pm Eastern) on Integrated Flight Test-7 (IFT-7). At first everything seemed to go splendidly. The Super Heavy booster separated from Starship as planned and returned to the launch tower, Mechazilla, where it was caught by mechanical arms dubbed “chopsticks.”

That was only the second time such a feat was achieved. The first was on IFT-5 in October 2024.  A second attempt in November failed because sensors on the launch tower were damaged during liftoff so launch controllers commanded the booster to make a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico instead. They added protection for the sensors this time, which apparently solved the problem.

But something went awry with the Starship second stage after separation.

SpaceX’s webcast displays when each of the 33 Super Heavy and six Starship methane-liquid oxygen (methalox) Raptor engines are firing throughout the flight as can be seen in the above video. Super Heavy is at the lower left and Starship the lower right. At the moment Super Heavy was being caught all six Starship engines were firing as expected.

NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel captured the moments when the Starship engines began successively failing, leaving only one burning at the point telemetry froze.

Here’s the telemetry for the IFT7 Starship failure. Looks like they lost one of the Raptors first, followed by another and a Raptor vacuum. Full loss of telemetry at T+8:27 or so…

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— Geoff Brumfiel (@gbrumfiel.bsky.social) January 16, 2025 at 5:55 PM

Paul Byrne (@theplanetyguy@bsky.social) reposted a video that show Starship’s remnants reentering near the Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean.

This footage from Dean Olsen (@deankolsen87) on Twitter is apparently from Turks and Caicos.

If confirmed, this is likely Flight 7’s Starship undergoing uncontrolled re-entry after an in-flight break up.

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— Paul Byrne (@theplanetaryguy.bsky.social) January 16, 2025 at 6:30 PM

Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of Jonathan’s Space Report later posted this graphic of his estimate of Starship’s trajectory and where it ended.

SpaceX confirmed the RUD.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk reposted a similar video exclaiming “Success is uncertain, but entertainment is guaranteed.”

The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation regulates commercial space launches. The FAA said it is assessing the situation and will issue an update later.

Asked if aircraft operations were affected where the debris reentered, it said they “briefly slowed and diverted aircraft around the area.”

FlightRadar24 posted a map of aircraft whose flight plans were affected by the falling debris.

Later in the evening, SpaceX posted additional information on its website and Musk added more on X. They concluded a fire developed in the aft section of Starship after 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.” They’ll conduct “a thorough investigation, in coordination with the FAA, and implement corrective actions” for future flights.

Snip from SpaceX statement, January 16, 2025.

The company insists the debris fell “within predefined hazard areas,” but the FAA stated that it activated a Debris Response Area and that’s done when debris falls “outside of the identified closed aircraft hazard areas.” The FAA also noted, however, that the information in its statement was preliminary and subject to change. The FAA’s regulatory authority over commercial space launches is protecting public safety so the extent to which public safety was in jeopardy could be a significant factor in how quickly SpaceX can get a license to launch again.

A number of upgrades were made to Starship for this flight. The forward flaps were reduced in size and moved further from the heat shield, the heat shield itself had “latest generation tiles,” avionics “underwent a complete design,” and the propulsion system was redesigned “including a 25 percent increase in propellant volume, the vacuum jacketing of feedlines, a new fuel feedline system for the vehicle’s Raptor vacuum engines, and an improved propulsion avionics module controlling vehicle valves and reading sensors.”

This Starship was 2 meters (6.5 feet) taller than the previous version to allow for the greater volume of propellant. The Starship/Super Heavy combination is now 123 meters (403.5 feet) tall instead of 121 meters (397 feet). They plan to continue increasing its size.

Comparison of the size of Super Heavy/Starship (far right) versus (from left): a person, Star Wars’ Millennium Falcon, and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy. Credit: SpaceX

Starship is SpaceX’s future, not only for launching satellites into Earth orbit, but to achieve Musk’s vision of sending millions of people to live on Mars.  In addition, NASA contracted with SpaceX in 2021 to use Starship as a Human Landing System (HLS) for the Artemis program to return American astronauts to the lunar surface. The first use of Starship HLS is for the Artemis III mission was recently re-scheduled for September 2027.

SpaceX’s philosophy is to test as often as possible knowing there will be failures along the way. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated SpaceX, noting the importance of these tests with “each one bringing us closer on our path to the Moon and onward to Mars through Artemis.”

Starship is the name of the space transportation system’s second stage, but is often used to describe the entire system.

SpaceX’s Starship IFT-7 awaiting launch with a SpaceX overlay showing which section is Super Heavy and which is Starship, although the entire system is also referred to as Starship.. Credit: SpaceX webcast January 16, 2025.

 

This article has been updated several times.

 

Last Updated: Jan 17, 2025 11:42 am ET

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