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SpaceX made history moments back as it caught the 232-feet-tall Super Heavy with the launch tower for the second time on Starship Flight 7. Starship Flight 7 lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, earlier today, and the tower caught the booster almost seven minutes after liftoff. However, the booster catch was the only point of excitement for the test flight, and soon after the catch, SpaceX appeared to have lost data from the upper stage of the Starship spacecraft. The loss of data occurred just as the ship's engines were about to cut off for the coast phase of its journey before a potential in-space engine firing, payload deployment and an eventual soft splashdown.
SpaceX's Second Generation Upper Stage Starship Lost Roughly Nine Minutes Post Liftoff On Flight 7
The loss of contact with the upper stage Starship occurred at eight and a half minutes post liftoff as it was traveling at 21,317 kilometers per hour at an altitude of 146 kilometers. For the next eight minutes teams kept working to re-stablish communication with the ship and later on confirmed that it had potentially been lost on its way to the Indian Ocean.
For the first stage Starship booster, SpaceX had reused one rocket engine which appeared to perform well during the ascent portion of the rocket's flight. During engine reignition for the boost back burn, one engine appeared to be off but all of the center engines fired as expected during the rocket's landing burn for the tower catch.
Given that the second stage had been performing well on most of the previous Starship flights, the loss of the vehicle during the latest test was surprising. The upper stage had provided for some of the most remarkable views of previous tests during its atmospheric reentry as it glowed red hot while engulfed in plasma.
SpaceX later confirmed that it had lost the ship during flight and lost contact at the eight and a half minute mark at the point of engine cutoff. This marked an uneventful end to the first Starship test flight of 2025 and delayed many of the tests that SpaceX had planned for the new rocket.
The second stage flying on today's mission was a brand new design with several upgrades. These covered its forward (upper flaps), its propulsion system, its flight control and avionic systems and its tanks. Given that the rocket was lost at the point of engine shutoff, it is likely that an anomaly with its propulsion system led to the loss of vehicle.
SpaceX had also planned to evaluate the rocket's performance during atmospheric reentry to gauge its performance for an eventual tower catch. In fact, statements by Elon Musk indicated that if a soft ship splashdown occurred on today's flight, then his firm could very well attempt a ship tower catch on Flight 8. However, with the ship's early demise, this now appears unlikely as SpaceX will pour over the data from today's flight to develop its strategy for Flight 8.
Today's loss of vehicle might also prolong its license approval process for the next flight if the reasons for failure are beyond those already discussed with the FAA.
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