Saednews: SpaceX's latest unmanned Starship launch at first went off without a boom on Tuesday, but eventually broke up almost an hour after it took off.
After two test flights ended in dramatic explosions earlier this year, SpaceX's ninth test of its Starship vehicle experienced a "rapid unscheduled disassembly" on Tuesday, May 27, SpaceX confirmed on X. That's the same language used when Starship's January and March flight tests unexpectedly exploded in the sky.
"Teams will continue to review data and work toward our next flight test," CEO Elon Musk's company wrote. "With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary."
SpaceX rocket launch: When is Starship flight 9?
SpaceX has announced that it is targeting Tuesday, May 27 for Starship's ninth flight test. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET from SpaceX's Starbase, the company's headquarters in Boca Chica about 23 miles from Brownsville near the US-Mexico border.
The news comes after the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, gave official approval Thursday, May 22 for SpaceX to launch Starship once again. The greenlight follows SpaceX completing an investigation into the most recent Starship launch on March 6, which ended with the vehicle's upper stage exploding for the second consecutive time.
"Several hardware changes have been made to increase reliability," SpaceX said on its website in its announcement.
