[SpaceX spacecraft in the Low Earth Orbit, Photo Credit: Pixabay]

SpaceX’s Starship exploded once again during its ninth test flight on May 27, 2025, despite achieving new milestones like reaching space and reusing its booster— a sign of progress yet remain overshadowed by failure.

While the upper-stage “Ship” reached space and the booster was reused for the first time, both stages were ultimately lost during reentry or landing, underscoring the inherent volatility of the company’s development process.

The test flight lifted off from Starbase in Texas at 6:37 p.m. local time, propelling the 40-story vehicle into a suborbital trajectory over the Atlantic Ocean. 

Unlike earlier tests, the launch successfully reused the Super Heavy booster that previously flew on Flight 7 in January. 

This milestone supports SpaceX’s long-standing goal to develop rockets that are fully and rapidly reusable.

The launch marked the first time a previously flown Super Heavy booster was sent back into flight, with only four of its 33 Raptor engines replaced. 

The company conducted experiments during the booster’s descent, testing a steeper angle of attack designed to improve aerodynamic drag and reduce fuel needs for landing.

Despite this effort, the Super Heavy booster broke apart during its landing burn just over six minutes after liftoff. 

SpaceX had decided not to attempt a catch with the launch tower arms this time, opting instead for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. 

Even so, the booster failed to complete its descent.

The Ship stage continued for nearly 30 minutes, reaching space and coasting over the Indian Ocean. 

SpaceX planned for it to release eight mock Starlink satellites, but a jammed payload door prevented deployment. 

Soon after, the vehicle began tumbling due to a leak in its fuel tank systems, which disabled its attitude control. 

As a result, SpaceX aborted its plan to relight a Raptor engine in space and later confirmed the Ship’s disintegration during reentry.

The company had intended to use this test to collect heat shield data by removing tiles from vulnerable sections of the vehicle and testing different tile materials. 

However, Ship’s premature failure limited how much of this data could be recovered.

SpaceX’s frequent Starship failures have drawn attention to its unorthodox testing method. 

The company iterates quickly, launching often with full knowledge that each flight may end in loss. 

This fly, fail, fix strategy contrasts sharply with legacy aerospace firms and government agencies, which typically delay launches until confidence in mission success is high.

Observers and space policy experts point out that while SpaceX’s strategy can appear chaotic, it has enabled rapid innovation by embracing frequent test launches, quickly incorporating lessons from failures, and shortening the design-to-flight cycle.

The company’s Falcon 9 rocket, now routinely reused, was born from the same aggressive testing cycle.

Still, the repeated losses of Starship raise questions about when the strategy will yield a consistently operational vehicle. 

SpaceX plans to conduct three more test flights in the next few months, continuing to pursue breakthroughs in reusability and orbital reliability.

As competition in the spaceflight industry intensifies, the contrasting approaches of companies like SpaceX and more traditional agencies reflect a deeper tension in aerospace development: whether to move fast and risk failure, or move slow and guarantee safety. 

For now, SpaceX remains committed to the former.