Ten flights in, the Starship Program has had successes and failures

Date:
Fri, 05 Sep 2025 20:01:10 +0000

Description:
SpaceX has had a long journey through 10 flight tests of Starship. Teams have endured The post Ten flights in, the Starship Program has had successes and failures appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com .

FULL STORY ======================================================================

SpaceX has had a long journey through 10 flight tests of Starship. Teams
have endured explosions and failures, but also achieved triumphs through amazing reentries, catches of Boosters, and even the reuse of a Booster.
After 10 flights of Starship, the Program stands on the doorstep of a new generation of vehicles and possible ship reuse in 2026.



Flight 1: Just Clear the Pad

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SpaceX started flying Starship back in April of 2023 with Flight 1. This
stack consisted of Ship 24 and Booster 7, both of which debuted Raptor 2 and had been tested more extensively than any other vehicle in the history of the Starship program. These two vehicles combined performed at least 15 cryogenic tests, 19 spin primes, 10 static fires, one Wet Dress Rehearsal, and an aborted launch attempt.

After these many tests, Booster 7 and Ship 24 lifted off on April 20, 2023, and the flight did not go well; however, expectations were merely to clear
the pad. Booster 7 instantly had three engines out and would lose more during ascent. With these lost engines and a fire in the engine bay, the full stack would only reach 40 km before it ripped itself apart. The fires in the engine bay caused electrical lines to the engines to be burned and damaged, leading to a loss of control of the booster.

To add to all of the problems, when the Flight Termination System (FTS) was triggered, it was not powerful enough to destroy both vehicles despite punching a hole into the tanks. Booster 7 and Ship 24 for Flight 1 in flight (Credit: Jack Beyer for NSF)

During the launch, a hole under the launch mount occurred because the water deluge system had not been installed yet. SpaceX took a gamble to fly Flight
1 before the installation of this system, hoping the fondag concrete would hold for a single flight; it did not, however. And Starship created the
effect of a mini volcano as the rocket exhaust dug under the concrete,
sending a large dust cloud into the atmosphere.

Following the crater in the ground from Flight 1, SpaceX reinforced the foundation of Pad A and installed a deluge plate to help dampen sound and protect the launch pad. Another new addition was the hot-stage ring on top of the booster. Before even testing their original stage-separation idea, SpaceX switched to hot staging. To combat the fires in the engine bay, SpaceX also added a fire-suppression system on the booster.

This involved adding two large stainless steel tanks under the chines next
to the Booster Quick Disconnect (BQD) on the booster. These would feed CO2 into the engine bay, acting like a large fire extinguisher to prevent fires from burning connections to the flight computer. And finally, crews would double the amount of FTS charges on the ship and booster to make sure the vehicles would be destroyed if needed. Booster 7 and Ship 24 spinning out of control during Flight 1 (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)

Flights 2-4: Improvements Over time

The lessons learned from this flight paved the way for Ship 25 and Booster
9. This next set of vehicles would require significantly less testing due to the data already gathered from Flight 1. The Flight 2 full stack lifted off
on Nov 18, 2023, and Booster 9 had all 33 engines running for the entire ascent burn. Booster 9 gave everyone the first view of the mega mach diamond as all 33 engines create a kind of aerospike effect due to the supersonic exhaust.

The hotstaging maneuver worked perfectly on the first try, and Ship 25 started towards space. Unfortunately, Booster 9 was lost during boost back burn due to ice in the tanks, which was then ingested into the Raptor engine pump inlets. This ice is a result of how SpaceX taps off autogenous pressurization gases from the Raptor engines. Ship 25 nearly made it to
second stage engine cutoff (SECO), but it was lost due to a fire in the aft section just before. Booster 9 and Ship 25 in Flight for Flight 2 (Credit: BocaChicaGal for NSF)

This fire was caused by SpaceX performing a Liquid Oxygen (LOX) dump using the dump valves in the aft skirt. To address these issues, SpaceX added ice filters over the LOX turbopump inlets at the bottom of the LOX tank. Additionally, for the ship, the LOX dump was moved to after SECO. This
wouldnt be the last time a ship was lost due to fires in the aft section.

Flight 3, launched on March 14, 2024, would improve on Flight 2 by enabling Booster 10 to pass the boost back burn and reach the landing burn. However, the Booster was lost shortly after landing burn startup, due to possible ice filter blockage over the liquid oxygen turbopump inlets. Ship 28 then made it all the way to SECO but lost attitude control due to clogging of the ships roll control thrusters, and it then performed an uncontrolled reentry.

SpaceX would add even more ice protection to the booster after Flight 3 and has yet to run into the same issue again. To address ship issues, SpaceX
added more roll control redundancy. A then-live view of Ship 29 during
reentry during Flight 4 (Credit: SpaceX)

Flight 4, launched on June 6, 2024, marked another improvement, with Booster 11 completing its entire mission profile and performing a soft splashdown in the water. Ship 29 completed its ascent burn, its coast phase, and a full controlled reentry. The only blemish for Ship 29 was that it had a decent amount of burn through on its heat shield, even almost losing a forward flap. Despite this, it provided uninterrupted live views of reentry, which is something no one had seen before.

Flight 5-6: The Catch and Fast Turnaround

After four flights of continuous improvements and a soft, controlled, and on-target splashdown for Booster 11, SpaceX wanted to try for a catch. Before this could be attempted, numerous upgrades were made to the launch pad systems. New landing rail bumpers were added, new gusset plates at the top of the tower to increase strength, and several other additions.

This flight also involved an upgraded heat shield for Ship 30 to better survive reentry by introducing an ablative layer under the tiles. On flights 1-4, the heat shield layout on most of the ship, from bottom to top,
consisted of attachment pins, insulating felt, a mesh to help keep the felt down during installation, and then the tile. Flight 5 added an ablative layer between the pins and the felt. Booster 12 for Flight 5 about to be caught by the tower (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)

Flight 5 would launch on Oct 13, 2024, and to this date, it is the most successful flight in the Starship program. Booster 12 completed its entire mission profile and was caught back on the launch tower, marking the second orbital-class rocket in history to be landed. So far, only Falcon 9 has
landed either on a landing pad or on a drone ship, and both are by SpaceX.

After stage separation, Ship 30 completed all of its objectives and
performed a perfect reentry and landed on target in the Indian Ocean. While there was some burn-through in places, the new ablative did its job. This is the peak of the Starship program. SpaceX has yet to replicate this same
flight again.

The next flight, SpaceX aimed to achieve the fastest turnaround so far with the launch pad and a new set of vehicles. Teams achieved this, and Flight 6 launched on Nov 19, 2024, just 37 days after Flight 5. This flight would be the last flight of Block 1 of Starship, as Ship 33 was the first Block 2 ship slated to fly. Booster 13 and Ship 31 lift off for Flight 6 (Credit: D Wise for NSF)

Booster 13 completed its ascent; however, due to a tower issue, it could not perform a catch. Ship 31 completed its objectives and performed an on-target splashdown in the Indian Ocean despite only having the ablative upgrades around critical areas on the heat shield. And thanks to this being an afternoon flight rather than an early morning one, SpaceX got daylight views of the heat shield after reentry.

Flight 7-9: Block 2, Not the Start that was Hoped

Block 2 was introduced with many changes and optimizations. The forward
flaps were tucked into the leeward side, the propellant tanks were made larger, and many other changes were made to try to make a more operational starship.

The hope was that with Ship 33+, SpaceX would be able to get into orbit, perform the refueling demonstration, and catch a ship. However, things did
not go as planned, and Block 2 of the ship took a few steps back from the success of Block 1.

Flight 7, which lifted off on Jan 16, 2025, had Booster 14 repeat what Booster 12 did and complete all aspects of the mission, and was caught on the tower.

Ship 33, however, was lost before SECO due to harmonic vibrations in the engine section. These vibrations caused leaks, which led to fires in the aft section of the ship, resulting in an explosion during its burn. SpaceX has never said exactly what caused these vibrations to occur; however, teams made adjustments for Ship 34. Booster 14 Landing Burn for Flight 7 (Credit: Tyler Gray for NSF)

Next up was Flight 8 on March 6, 2025, featuring Booster 15 and Ship 34. Booster 15 completed a nearly perfect flight and was caught, making three caught boosters for SpaceX. Ship 34, however, had an issue with a center raptor that led to leaks and a fire in the engine section once again, and the ship was lost before SECO.

SpaceX stated that this issue was caused by preloading problems on the
Raptors engine mount, meaning the torque specifications were not adequate.



After losing two ships back-to-back before getting to SECO, a lot was riding on Ship 35 on Flight 9. With a pairing of Ship 35 and Booster 14-2, yes, a reflown booster, Flight 9 lifted off on May 27, 2025. Booster 14-2 completed almost all of its objectives, but it was lost during the landing burn startup because SpaceX was trying to push the limits of the Booster, and it did not survive.

Ship 35 passed SECO but lost control during the coast phase due to a methane gas leak into the payload bay, resulting in loss during an uncontrolled reentry. This gas leak was due to a failure of the diffuser and canister assembly at the top of the forward dome. This helps route and spread out the autogenous pressurization gases from the raptors that pressurize the tanks. Booster 14-2 and Ship 35 for Flight 9 Hot staging (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)

Flight 10: The Redemption Arc

Like Flight 9, Flight 10 had a lot riding on it. SpaceX had already lost eight months of 2025 without being able to test the new heat shield design of Block 2 and other coast phase objectives.

Initially, Flight 10 was scheduled to use Ship 36 and Booster 16. However, during an attempt to complete a six-engine static fire, Ship 36 was lost at Masseys, resulting in Ship 37 being selected for Flight 10. After static firing the ship on Pad A due to the damage at Masseys, Flight 10 launched on Aug 26, 2025. Booster 16 completed a nearly perfect ascent and completed its landing objectives by hovering over the Gulf before dropping into the water and exploding. Booster 16 and Ship 37 for Flight 10 Super Sonic (Credit: Max Evans for NSF)

Ship 37 would then break the curse of Block 2, making it all the way to SECO and under control. SpaceX then performed a set of tests that teams had been wanting to complete for eight months.

First was a payload deploy demonstration with dummy Starlinks, which was the first-ever payload deploy for Starship. The second was an in-space burn of a Raptor engine for Block 2.



Despite damage to the aft section and aft flaps due to possible issues with the engine chill lines, Ship 37 survived reentry and landed within three meters of the target zone.

After the three straight failures to start 2025, this flight was a massive success and a morale boost to SpaceX. Ship 37 Landing Burn after Reentry (Credit: SpaceX)

Flight 11 and Beyond

With 10 flights in the books and many objectives completed, the final Block
2 flight is likely set to be sometime in October of 2025. Currently, Booster 15-2 is in Mega Bay 1, ready to come out for a static fire as soon as Pad A
is prepared for it. And its other half, Ship 38, is still being finished inside Mega Bay 2, before it too will have to go to Pad A for static fire testing.

Following Flight 11, SpaceX will transition to Block 3 of Starship, aiming
to enter a more operational phase through orbital refueling and the commencement of Starlink missions.

The first pairing for this generation is set to be Ship 39 and Booster 18. SpaceX Installing the New Transfer Tube For Booster 18 the first Block 3 Booster (Credit: SpaceX)

Featured Image: Ship 30 for Flight 5 during Reentry (Credit: SpaceX)



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