Starship Flight 7: Successes, failures and what happens next

The seventh flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket on Jan. 16, 2025, was a mixture of highs and lows. A nominal liftoff of the rocket at 4:37 p.m. CST (5:37 p.m. EST, 2237 UTC) was followed by a successful catch of the Super Heavy booster by the launch tower known as 'Mechazilla.' However, the Starship upper stage failed to successfully complete its first burn and subsequently, was destroyed before it could get too far beyond the Gulf of Mexico. This was the first flight of the Block 2 variant of Starship.

Spaceflight Now spoke with astronomer and astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell about the Starship Flight 7 mishap, the responses to it and how this impacts the overall Starship program.

Jonathan's Space Report: https://planet4589.org

Video shot by:
• Adam Bernstein, Spaceflight Now
• LabPadre

Written and edited by:
• Will Robinson-Smith, Spaceflight Now

Additional video:
• NASA
• SpaceX

Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
02:44 - McDowell's initial thoughts
03:16 - Starlink 9-3 mishap context
05:05 - FAA response
06:44 - First flight of Starship Block 2
08:33 - Looking to Flight 8
08:47 - Ship-to-Ship propellant transfer
09:57 - When to catch Starship
10:35 - Root cause and the path ahead

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