Starship flight test 8 was the eighth flight test of a SpaceX Starship launch vehicle. The launch tower successfully caught Booster 15; Ship 34 was destroyed before completing its planned flight, as during its initial burn four of the six engines experienced premature shutdowns that resulted in a loss of attitude control followed by a total loss of telemetry. The vehicle's breakup was observed from the Bahamas, Florida, Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was the second flight and second failure of a Block 2 ship.

SpaceX had previously aborted a launch attempt late into the count on March 3, 2025, with a second attempt lifting off on March 6, 2025, at 5:30:31 pm CST (23:30:31 UTC).

Background Vehicle testing ahead of launch Booster 15 (B15) underwent cryogenic testing on December 29, 2024. Ship 34 (S34) was moved to Massey's test site on January 15, 2025, just before Flight 7, where it conducted cryogenic tests on January 17 and 18, 2025.

On February 8, 2025, B15 rolled to Orbital Launch Pad 1 for static fire testing, and the test was conducted the following day. On February 10, SpaceX rolled S34 to the Massey's test site for static fire testing. It conducted a long duration static fire (60 seconds) on February 11. B15 was rolled to OLP-1 on February 25, and S34 was rolled to OLP-1 on March 2. They were stacked later that evening.

Impact of flight test 7

During Starship flight test 7 on January 16, 2025, initial data indicated that a fire broke out mid-flight, leading to the destruction of the vehicle. SpaceX suspects the fire was caused by an issue with the propellant system, that led to excess pressure in the cavity above the engine firewall.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the breakup, grounding Starship until the inquiry was complete. Elon Musk described the event as "barely a bump in the road," indicating that the issues would be resolved quickly. Musk suggested that a subsequent launch could occur the following month, depending on testing progress.

On February 24, 2025, SpaceX announced that they had completed their mishap investigation into Flight 7. Subsequently, on February 26, 2025, the FAA approved the launch license with modifications based on the results of the mishap investigation.

Mission profile

The mission profile for flight test 8 was similar to the previous launch's plan, targeting a splashdown in the Indian Ocean and a catch of the booster. The ship was scheduled to deploy four intentionally destructible Starlink "simulators" which were also expected to reenter over the Indian Ocean.

Flight timeline TimeEventMarch 3, 2025March 6, 2025−01:15:00Flight director conducts a poll and verifies go for propellant loading−00:45:59Starship oxidizer (liquid oxygen) load start−00:42:59Starship fuel (liquid methane) load start−00:41:22Super Heavy fuel (liquid methane) load start−00:35:35Super Heavy oxidizer (liquid oxygen) load start−00:19:40Super Heavy and Starship engine chill−00:03:20Starship propellant load complete−00:02:50Super Heavy propellant load complete−00:00:30Flight director verifies go for launchLaunch scrubbed at T−00:00:40−00:00:10Flame deflector activation−00:00:03Super Heavy engine ignition+00:00:02Liftoff+00:01:02Throttle down for max q during ascent (moment of peak mechanical stress on the rocket)+00:02:32Super Heavy most engines cutoff (MECO) +00:02:40Starship engine ignition and stage separation (hot-staging) +00:02:45Super Heavy boostback burn start8 out of 10 engines reignited +00:04:06Super Heavy boostback burn shutdown +00:04:08Hot-stage jettison +00:06:34Super Heavy landing burn start12 out of 13 engines ignited +00:07:02Super Heavy landing burn shutdown and catch +00:08:44Starship engine cutoff (SECO)Engines began to fail at T+08:04 and vehicle spun out of control, Ship Destroyed at T+09:35 +00:17:24Starlink simulator satellites deploy demo +00:37:28Raptor in-space relight demo +00:47:22Starship atmospheric reentry +01:03:05Starship is transonic +01:04:20Starship is subsonic +01:06:04Starship landing flip +01:06:06Starship landing burn +01:06:26Starship splashdown

March 3, 2025, attempt On March 3, 2025, Starship and Super Heavy began propellant loading, with SpaceX targeting a launch at 23:45 UTC (5:45 pm CST). However, after propellant loading, undisclosed issues arose with both vehicles and the count was held at T−40 seconds. SpaceX was able to resolve the issue and resume the countdown, flight computers detected additional problems, automatically resetting the count to T−40 seconds. After additional attempts at troubleshooting, flight controllers scrubbed (discontinued) the launch attempt.

Launch After the scrub of the launch attempt on March 3, Starship and Super Heavy launched from Starbase on March 6, with the booster completing its ascent burn nominally. Starship continued to ascend after stage separation from the booster, with the Super Heavy completing its boostback burn with two engines less than planned. Despite this, SpaceX gave the go ahead for booster catch, and the booster was successfully caught by the chopstick arms on the launch pad after a landing burn with 12 out of 13 center engines. The double Raptor engine relighting failure was linked to engine ignition issues caused by unfavorable thermal conditions.

Starship continued its ascent burn, but 4 engines (1 RVac, 3 sea level Raptors) started to shut down at T+8:04, roughly 30 seconds before the planned SECO. Starship lost attitude control, and SpaceX mission control confirmed during the flight that they lost contact with the ship. The ship was observed breaking up and reentering the atmosphere over Florida and the Bahamas several minutes after contact was lost. The most likely cause of the mishap was the failure of a Raptor sea level engine part, which caused propellant to mix and ignite, leading to a fire in the engine bay. This failure was distinct from the one that prematurely ended Flight 7. Following this anomaly, the Autonomous Flight Safety System on board the Ship was thought to have taken measures in order to ensure that none of its remains left the predetermined safety corridor.

Aftermath Similar to what happened after Flight 7, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) again ordered SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the breakup. On June 12, the FAA announced that the mishap investigation into Flight 8 was closed. The report highlighted 8 corrective actions to prevent reoccurrence of the issues, and the FAA verified that these corrective actions were implemented prior to Flight 9.

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