SpaceX Starship Flight Test 8 | Booster Landed | Upper-Stage RUD

SpaceX conducted the 8th Flight Test of Starship on March 6, 2025, from Starbase, South Texas, at 5:30 p.m. CST (23:30 UTC), using Super Heavy Booster 15 (B15) and Ship 34 (S34), a Block 2 prototype.

An earlier attempt on March 3 was scrubbed due to technical issues, with a hold at T-40 seconds and an automatic reset; the March 6 countdown had a brief hold but proceeded successfully.

The main objectives were to successfully launch and return the Super Heavy booster, targeting a tower catch;

deploy four Starlink simulator satellites from Ship 34 and

conduct reentry experiments to improve upper-stage reliability for future catch attempts.

B15 separated two minutes into flight, executed a boostback burn (two of 13 engines failed), and achieved a hard, vertical catch by the tower’s “chopstick” arms—the third catch in four attempts since October 2024.

Ship 34 suffered an anomaly eight minutes in—a leak in the engine bay sparked a fire, and an “energetic event” (possibly a Raptor Vacuum engine issue) shut down four of six engines, leading to a loss of control, tumbling, and breakup around 9 minutes 30 seconds after liftoff.

Upgrades, like enhanced flaps and 25% more propellant, didn’t prevent Ship 34 from suffering the fate of its predecessor, pushing upper-stage catch attempts further out. Debris from S34 reentered over the Caribbean, observed in the Bahamas, Florida, Jamaica, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Following the incident, the FAA initiated a mishap investigation (similar to Flight 7’s in January 2025), requiring SpaceX to identify the root cause and implement fixes; SpaceX views the test as a data-gathering success despite the loss.

Flight 8 marked progress with the booster catch but highlighted persistent upper-stage challenges, with SpaceX and the FAA now focused on analyzing the failure for future improvements.

The Starship Flight Test 8 achieved a significant milestone with the booster catch but fell short of its full objectives due to the upper stage’s failure, marking the second consecutive loss of a Block 2 Ship. SpaceX and the FAA now focused on analyzing the failure for future improvements.

Source: https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1lPKqMQbAWLKb