SpaceX’s latest Starship test flight ended in failure after losing control 30 minutes post-launch, dealing a blow to Elon Musk’s Mars mission timeline.
 |
| SpaceX’s Starship test flight lost control in suborbital space, marking another delay for Musk’s Mars rocket amid technical failures and missed objectives. Image: NASA/ CH |
Texas, USA – May 28, 2025:
SpaceX’s Starship rocket launched from the Starbase facility in Texas on Tuesday but failed mid-mission, losing control in suborbital space roughly 30 minutes after takeoff. The malfunction prevented it from completing several key test objectives, highlighting the persistent technical hurdles in Elon Musk’s multibillion-dollar quest to send humans to Mars.
The 400-foot (122-meter) rocket system, considered central to SpaceX's long-term Mars colonization goals, had shown early promise during liftoff, surpassing the flight durations of two earlier test attempts that ended in midair explosions and widespread debris over the Caribbean. Despite the initial progress, the flight failed to execute critical parts of its plan.
The mission, the ninth full test of the Starship system since April 2023, aimed to demonstrate orbital reusability by launching atop a previously flown lower-stage booster. However, SpaceX lost telemetry with the 232-foot booster during descent, which ultimately crashed into the sea rather than completing a controlled splashdown.
As the upper stage of the vehicle reached suborbital space, it began spinning uncontrollably. The failure followed a malfunction in its payload deployment system, which prevented the planned release of eight mock Starlink satellites. Dubbed a “Pez dispenser” mechanism, the system failed to operate, leading SpaceX to abort that part of the test.
“Not looking great with a lot of our on-orbit objectives for today,” admitted SpaceX broadcaster Dan Huot during the company’s live coverage of the launch.
Elon Musk was expected to deliver a speech titled The Road to Making Life Multiplanetary following the test, but the event did not occur. Instead, Musk posted an update on X (formerly Twitter), revealing that the loss of control stemmed from a leak in Starship’s main fuel tank. He noted that in-space engine shutdowns were successful, as they had been in prior tests, and emphasized the value of the flight data collected.
“There’s a lot of valuable data to analyze,” Musk wrote, adding that future test flights would ramp up, with the next three launches scheduled roughly every three to four weeks.
While SpaceX’s rapid-fire testing strategy aims to identify and resolve issues faster than more conservative aerospace programs, the repeated failures also delay the company’s ambitious goals. The latest flight was meant to complete an almost full orbit of Earth before splashing down in the Indian Ocean, testing improved heat shield tiles and new aerodynamic flaps designed to handle fiery atmospheric re-entry.
Instead, the mission concluded with a fireball seen across southern Africa’s skies, serving as a visual symbol of another setback for Musk’s Mars timeline. Despite this, SpaceX remains committed to iterative development and is already preparing for future launches, continuing to bet that high-risk testing will eventually lead to high-reward breakthroughs in space travel.