updates
Flight 9 mishap and the Ship 36 test-stand loss
On August 15, 2025, SpaceX reported Flight 9's booster and ship losses and the June 18 destruction of Ship 36 during a static-fire propellant load.
Topics: space-civilization starship
This page is an original Muskularity summary. It does not republish SpaceX’s full post. Figures are the company’s statements on the cited date unless another primary link is named.
Summary
SpaceX’s Flight 9 account: liftoff at 6:36 p.m. CT on May 27, 2025, from Starbase, using the first Super Heavy booster to fly again. All 33 engines completed ascent. After hot-staging, the booster did what SpaceX called its first deterministic flip and boostback. Descent used a higher angle of attack, peaking near 17 degrees, as an experiment. At the splashdown area, 12 of 13 planned landing engines relit, then an energetic event was seen near the aft end. Last data came about 382 seconds into flight, near 1 kilometer altitude, inside the planned clear zone. The probable cause SpaceX gave is structural failure of the fuel transfer tube under higher-than-predicted loads, mixing methane and oxygen. Later flights of that booster version would use a lower angle of attack. A debris survey, SpaceX said, found no sign of harmed marine animals.
The ship lit all six engines. About three minutes into the burn, nosecone methane rose; by about five minutes the main fuel tank was losing pressure while the nosecone gained it. The ship still reached the planned second-stage cutoff. Attitude error then made it skip payload deploy. After a later vent, cameras showed liquid methane in the nosecone, passivation followed, and the in-space burn was skipped. Last ship telemetry was about 46 minutes in, near 59 kilometers, over the Indian Ocean entry area. SpaceX’s probable cause is a failed diffuser on the main fuel-tank pressurization system, recreated at McGregor. The replacement was run more than ten times its expected life in qualification. The investigation was led by SpaceX with FAA oversight and participation from NASA, the NTSB, and the Space Force. SpaceX said no flight-safety rule was broken and the flight-termination system was not fired.
Ship 36, being prepared for Flight 10, was lost around 11 p.m. CT on June 18, 2025, during cryogenic load for a six-engine static fire. SpaceX’s probable cause is an under-screened composite overwrapped pressure vessel in the payload bay that held gaseous nitrogen. Mitigations: lower COPV pressure, more inspections and proof tests, a new non-destructive check, and external covers. The company said two flights remained on that generation.
Key facts
| Fact | Label |
|---|---|
| Flight 9 liftoff May 27, 2025, 6:36 p.m. CT; first reflown Super Heavy | Company flight report |
| Booster lost near 1 km after a 17-degree angle-of-attack test | Company investigation finding |
| Ship lost after a fuel-diffuser failure; last data near 59 km | Company investigation finding |
| Ship 36 destroyed June 18, 2025, during static-fire loading; no injuries reported | Company ground-test report |
Why it matters
Read this with the June 19 first notice and the V3 redesign, which removes the transfer-tube and aft-volume arrangements these failures used. Both losses are SpaceX investigation findings under FAA oversight, not a separate public board report reproduced here.
On this site
Sources
- SpaceX update, August 15, 2025 — Grade A, company mishap report
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