SpaceX’s ninth test flight of its Starship spacecraft ended in failure shortly after liftoff from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas on May 27. The mission aimed to deploy eight Starlink simulator satellites and test the vehicle’s reentry system with 100 removed heat-shield tiles.
However, due to a fuel system leak, the spacecraft began spinning uncontrollably, rendering the heat-shield test unfeasible. Despite this, CEO Elon Musk posted on X that the spacecraft had reached the scheduled ship engine cutoff, showing an improvement over previous flights.
During reentry, the booster stage was lost, and the payload door failed to open. The remaining parts of the ship landed in the Indian Ocean. This marks another setback for SpaceX’s Starship program, which has faced challenges in previous tests.
The FAA has been notified of the incident and will conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the failure and assess any potential impact on future launches.
Source: https://www.foxnews.com/us/spacexs-starship-flight-9-ends-failure-booster-loss-success-comes-from-what-we-learn