SpaceX takes a Starship booster a second time, loses the ship to an “anomaly” in space

SpaceX took the Starship rocket’s Super Heavy booster for a second time, after launching the upper stage into space on Thursday during a seventh test flight of the system. Shortly after the successful capture, SpaceX representatives stated that the ship was lost after the company lost contact about eight and a half minutes into the flight.

The ship successfully separated from the booster and started its own rocket engines to ascend into orbit before it appeared that some of these engines had failed. The company saw its link to the telemetry coming out of the ship disappear, and a few minutes later SpaceX confirmed that the ship had suffered an “anomaly with that upper stage” during the end of its burnout ascent into space. .

The company withdrew the first “catch” booster – which involves articulated arms on the launch tower that pluck the missile’s stage out of the air while using rockets to slow its descent – in October 2024. A second attempt to capture the booster in November was aborted due to a communication problem.

The rocket SpaceX sent Thursday was upgraded in several ways compared to previous test flights. The company hoped to test a number of different heat tiles on the ship’s section, which would protect it from re-entry forces. The launch tower was also equipped with radar sensors to more precisely locate the booster during the capture process.

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