Starship flight test 8

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).

Booster 15 underwent cryogenic testing on December 29, 2024. Ship 34 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, Booster 15 rolled to OLP-A 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-A on February 25, and S34 was rolled to OLP-A on March 2. They were stacked later that evening.

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 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.

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.

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.

After the scrub of the launch attempt on March 3rd, 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. The booster then descended and was caught by the chopstick arms on the launch pad. Starship continued its ascent burn, but 4 engines (1 RVac, 3 sea level Raptors) would start to shut down at T+8:04, roughly 30 seconds before the planned SECO. Starship lost attitude control, and SpaceX mission control confirmed 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.

Similar to what happened in flight test 7, the FAA again ordered SpaceX to perform a mishap investigation into the breakup.