SpaceX is building a fully reusable Starship to expand the human footprint beyond Earth.

As SpaceX’s envisioned multipurpose spacecraft, Starship will be capable of launching substantial payloads to any destination in the solar system, allow humans to live and work on Mars, perform lunar exploration for NASA, and conduct speedy intercontinental point-to-point transportation to destinations across Earth's surface.

Specs

Height: 50 m / 164 ft

Diameter: 9 m / 29.5 ft

Propellant Capacity: 1200 t / 2.6 Mlb

Thrust: 1500 tf / 3.2 Mlbf

Payload capacity: 100-150 t

Flight Heritage

Integrated Flight Test 8

Starship’s eighth flight test lifted off from Starbase in Texas at 6:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 6. The Super Heavy booster successfully ignited its 33 Raptor engines and propelled Starship through a nominal first-stage ascent.

Approximately two and a half minutes into flight, the Super Heavy booster shut down all but three of its Raptor engines as planned for hot-staging separation. Starship then successfully ignited its six Raptor engines and separated from the Super Heavy booster to continue its ascent into space.

The Super Heavy booster then reignited 11 of the 13 planned Raptor engines and performed a boostback burn to return to the launch site. As it approached the landing zone, 12 of the planned 13 engines were reignited at the start of the landing burn to slow the booster down. The three center engines continued running to guide the booster to the launch and catch tower arms, resulting in the third successful catch of a Super Heavy booster.

Starship continued its ascent along the planned trajectory. However, before the ascent burn concluded, an energetic event in the aft portion of Starship caused the loss of several Raptor engines. This resulted in a loss of attitude control and ultimately a loss of communication with the vehicle. Final contact occurred approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff.

Starship remained within a designated launch corridor to ensure public safety on the ground, on the water, and in the air. Following the anomaly, SpaceX teams immediately coordinated with the FAA, air traffic control, and other safety officials to implement pre-planned contingency measures.

Any surviving debris would have fallen within the designated Debris Response Area. The debris contains no toxic materials, and no significant impacts on marine species or water quality are expected.

As with all test flights, success comes from the lessons learned. The data gathered from this flight will contribute to improving Starship’s reliability. A thorough investigation will be conducted in coordination with the FAA, and corrective actions will be implemented to enhance future Starship flight tests.

Integrated Flight Test 7

SpaceX's seventh Starship launch soared through the clear Texan skies on January 16th, marking the debut of v2 with a suite of improvements.

It was a short flight.

Following a clean separation from Starship, the Super Heavy booster guided itself back towards Starbase, executing a controlled descent and gradually positioning itself to be caught by Mechazilla, the orbital launch tower’s chopstick arms.

This marked the second successful recovery of a massive Super Heavy booster to the launch pad. However, the mission took an unexpected turn 8.5 minutes into the flight when SpaceX lost all communications and telemetry from the Starship. The spacecraft had undergone “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly.”

It blew up.

The seventh flight test of Starship and Super Heavy flew with ambitious goals, aiming to successfully repeat the core capability of returning and catching a booster while launching an upgraded design of the upper stage. While not every test objective was completed, the lessons learned will roll directly into future vehicles to make them more capable as Starship advances toward full and rapid reuse.

On January 16, 2025, Starship successfully lifted off at 4:37 p.m. CT from Starbase in Texas. At launch, all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster started up successfully and completed a full duration burn during ascent. After powering down all but the three center engines on Super Heavy, Starship ignited all six of its Raptor engines to separate in a hot-staging maneuver and continue its ascent to space.

Following stage separation, Super Heavy initiated its boostback burn to propel the rocket toward its intended landing location. It successfully lit 12 of the 13 engines commanded to start, with a single Raptor on the middle ring safely aborting on startup due to a low-power condition in the igniter system. Raptor engines on upcoming flights have a pre-planned igniter upgrade to mitigate this issue. The boostback burn was completed successfully and sent Super Heavy back to the launch site for catch.

The booster successfully relit all 13 planned middle ring and center Raptor engines for its landing burn, including the engine that did not relight for boostback burn. The landing burn slowed the booster down and maneuvered it to the launch and catch tower arms at Starbase, resulting in the second ever successful catch of Super Heavy.

After vehicle separation, Starship's six second stage Raptor engines powered the vehicle along its expected trajectory. Approximately two minutes into its burn, a flash was observed in the aft section of the vehicle near one of the Raptor vacuum engines. This aft section, commonly referred to as the attic, is an unpressurized area between the bottom of the liquid oxygen tank and the aft heatshield. Sensors in the attic detected a pressure rise indicative of a leak after the flash was seen.

Roughly two minutes later, another flash was observed followed by sustained fires in the attic. These eventually caused all but one of Starship’s engines to execute controlled shut down sequences and ultimately led to a loss of communication with the ship. Telemetry from the vehicle was last received just over eight minutes and 20 seconds into flight.

Contact with Starship was lost prior to triggering any destruct rules for its Autonomous Flight Safety System, which was fully healthy when communication was lost. The vehicle was observed to break apart approximately three minutes after loss of contact during descent. Post-flight analysis indicates that the safety system did trigger autonomously, and breakup occurred within Flight Termination System expectations.

The most probable root cause for the loss of ship was identified as a harmonic response several times stronger in flight than had been seen during testing, which led to increased stress on hardware in the propulsion system. The subsequent propellant leaks exceeded the venting capability of the ship’s attic area and resulted in sustained fires.

Immediately following the anomaly, the pre-coordinated response plan developed by SpaceX, the FAA, and ATO (air traffic control) went into effect. All debris came down within the pre-planned Debris Response Area, and there were no hazardous materials present in the debris and no significant impacts expected to occur to marine species or water quality. SpaceX reached out immediately to the government of Turks and Caicos and worked with them and the United Kingdom to coordinate recovery and cleanup efforts. While an early end to the flight test is never a desired outcome, the measures put in place ahead of launch demonstrated their ability to keep the public safe.

SpaceX led the investigation efforts with oversight from the FAA and participation from NASA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the U.S. Space Force. SpaceX is working with the FAA to either close the mishap investigation or receive a flight safety determination, along with working on a license authorization to enable its next flight of Starship.

As part of the investigation, an extended duration static fire was completed with the Starship flying on the eighth flight test. The 60-second firing was used to test multiple engine thrust levels and three separate hardware configurations in the Raptor vacuum engine feedlines to recreate and address the harmonic response seen during Flight 7. Findings from the static fire informed hardware changes to the fuel feedlines to vacuum engines, adjustments to propellant temperatures, and a new operating thrust target that will be used on the upcoming flight test.

To address flammability potential in the attic section on Starship, additional vents and a new purge system utilizing gaseous nitrogen are being added to the current generation of ships to make the area more robust to propellant leakage. Future upgrades to Starship will introduce the Raptor 3 engine, reducing the attic volume and eliminating the majority of joints that can leak into this volume.

Starship’s seventh flight test was a reminder that developmental progress is not always linear, and putting flight hardware in a flight environment is the fastest way to demonstrate how thousands of distinct parts come together to reach space. Upcoming flights will continue to target ambitious goals in the pursuit of full and rapid reusability.

Integrated Flight Test 6

The sixth flight test of Starship launched from Starbase on November 19, 2024, seeking to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities and get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online.

The Super Heavy booster successfully lifted off at the start of the launch window, with all 33 Raptor engines powering it and Starship off the pad from Starbase. Following a nominal ascent and stage separation, the booster successfully transitioned to its boostback burn to begin the return to launch site. During this phase, automated health checks of critical hardware on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt. The booster then executed a pre-planned divert maneuver, performing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

Starship completed another successful ascent, placing it on the expected trajectory. The ship successfully reignited a single Raptor engine while in space, demonstrating the capabilities required to conduct a ship deorbit burn before starting fully orbital missions. With live views and telemetry being relayed by Starlink, the ship successfully made it through reentry and executed a flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

The data collected from multiple thermal protection experiments, along with the successful flight through subsonic speeds at a more aggressive angle of attack, provides invaluable feedback on flight hardware performance in a real flight environment. This will help guide us toward the eventual goal of ship return and catch.

With data and flight learnings as the primary payload, Starship’s sixth flight test once again delivered. The lessons learned will directly contribute to making the entire Starship system more reliable as SpaceX moves closer to achieving full and rapid reusability.

Integrated Flight Test 5

Starship’s fifth flight test lifted off on October 13, 2024, with the most ambitious test objectives yet as SpaceX worked to demonstrate techniques fundamental to Starship and Super Heavy’s fully and rapidly reusable design. On the first attempt, Mechazilla successfully caught the booster.

Following a successful liftoff, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and coast, the Super Heavy booster performed its landing burn and was caught by the chopstick arms of the launch and catch tower at Starbase. Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met before the catch attempt, and thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, they succeeded on the first try.

Prior to the catch, Starship executed another successful hot-staging separation, igniting its six Raptor engines and completing its ascent into outer space. It coasted along its planned trajectory to the other side of the planet before executing a controlled reentry, passing through phases of peak heating and maximum aerodynamic pressure, followed by a flip, landing burn, and splashdown in its target area in the Indian Ocean. The flight test concluded with splashdown 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 40 seconds after launch.

Integrated Flight Test 4

Starship’s fourth flight test launched with ambitious goals, attempting to go farther than any previous test before and begin demonstrating capabilities central to return and reuse of Starship and Super Heavy. The payload for this test was the data. Starship delivered.

On June 6, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:50 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to deliver maximum excitement.

The Super Heavy booster lifted off successfully and completed a full-duration ascent burn.

Starship executed another successful hot-stage separation, powering down all but three of Super Heavy’s Raptor engines and successfully igniting the six second stage Raptor engines before separating the vehicles.

Following separation, the Super Heavy booster successfully completed its flip maneuver, boostback burn to send it towards the splashdown zone, and jettison of the hot-stage adapter.

The booster’s flight ended with a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico seven minutes and 24 seconds into the flight.

Starship's six second stage Raptor engines successfully powered the vehicle to space and placed it on the planned trajectory for coast.

Starship made a controlled reentry, successfully making it through the phases of peak heating and max aerodynamic pressure and demonstrating the ability to control the vehicle using its flaps while descending through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

Starlink on Starship once again enabled real-time telemetry and live high-definition video throughout every phase of entry, with external cameras providing views all the way to the flight’s conclusion.

Flight 4 ended with Starship igniting its three center Raptor engines and executing the first flip maneuver and landing burn since the suborbital test campaign, followed by a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean one hour and six minutes after launch.

Integrated Flight Test 3

On March 14, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 8:25 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to accomplish several major milestones and firsts:

For the second time, all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster started up successfully and completed a full-duration burn during ascent.

Starship executed its second successful hot-stage separation, powering down all but three of Super Heavy’s Raptor engines and successfully igniting the six second stage Raptor engines before separating the vehicles.

Following separation, the Super Heavy booster successfully completed its flip maneuver and completed a full boostback burn to send it towards its splashdown point in the Gulf of Mexico.

Super Heavy successfully lit several engines for its first ever landing burn before the vehicle experienced a RUD (that’s SpaceX-speak for “rapid unscheduled disassembly”). The booster’s flight concluded at approximately 462 meters in altitude and just under seven minutes into the mission.

Starship's six second stage Raptor engines all started successfully and powered the vehicle to its expected orbit, becoming the first Starship to complete its full-duration ascent burn.

While coasting, Starship accomplished several of the flight test’s additional objectives, including the opening and closing of its payload door (aka the pez dispenser,) and initiating a propellant transfer demonstration. Starship did not attempt its planned on-orbit relight of a single Raptor engine due to vehicle roll rates during coast. Results from these demonstrations will come after postflight data review is complete.

Starship went on to experience its first ever entry from space, providing valuable data on heating and vehicle control during hypersonic reentry. Live views of entry were made possible by Starlink terminals operating on Starship. - The flight test’s conclusion came during entry, with the last telemetry signals received via Starlink from Starship at approximately 49 minutes into the mission.

While teams review the data collected from this flight, Starship and Super Heavy vehicles are preparing for upcoming flights as SpaceX seeks to increase their launch cadence throughout the year.

This rapid iterative development approach has underpinned all of SpaceX’s major technological advancements, including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink. Recursive improvement remains essential in the effort to develop a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, supporting humanity’s return to the Moon, and ultimately enabling travel to Mars and beyond.

Integrated Flight Test 2

On November 18th, 2023, Starship Super Heavy successfully lifted off at 7:02 AM CT from Starbase, Texas.

All 33 Raptor engines were successfully ignited and reached full thrust, lifting the largest launch system ever built. In contrast to its previous flight, the Raptor engines onboard the Super Heavy booster functioned as expected. This, combined with quicker thrust throttling to minimize contact with the pad, enabled Starship to lift off smoothly and pitch away from the launch site.

With thrust exceeding twice that of the Saturn V and surpassing NASA's Space Launch System, Starship Super Heavy followed its planned trajectory into space. After passing the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure, the vehicle achieved supersonic speed for the first time.

The previous test flight experienced multiple engine shutdowns before stage separation, but the lessons learned from that flight resulted in a flawless ascent profile. SpaceX addressed all the issues encountered during the first flight, and this launch marked the maiden test flight of several new technologies.

As Starship Super Heavy approached the stage separation point, all but the central three booster engines shut down in a staggered sequence at MECO (Most Engines Cut Off). While the Super Heavy booster continued to provide thrust, though significantly reduced, the six Raptor engines on Starship ignited, facilitating its separation from Super Heavy. Engine plasma exited from the booster’s skirt, in an additional ring specifically designed for this stage separation system — known as hot staging. This was the first time hot staging was performed and tested in-flight on an American rocket since the Titan fleet.

Rarely used by American launch vehicles, hot staging is common in Soviet-era Russian rockets like Soyuz since it simplifies the stage separation system, and enables more mass to orbit. SpaceX estimates that hot staging will increase Starship’s maximum payload to orbit by 10%.

Heat shields and skirtings on the booster helped protect it from Starship's fiery plume. Multiple-raptor engines on Super Heavy reignited as it steered away from Starship and began its boost-back burn. However, it was shortly terminated by the Autonomous Flight Termination system. The cause for this is still unknown, but it’s highly probable that all the required engines might not have reignited properly and the booster significantly deviated from its planned trajectory, leading to its automatic termination at an altitude of 90 kilometers (56 miles) over the Gulf of Mexico.

As it passed the Kármán line (100km) the vehicle became the most powerful rocket to ever make it to space.

Just short of the second stage cut-off, Starship lost all communications from the ground and experienced a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (big explosion).

Starship achieved a maximum altitude of ~150 kilometers (93.2 miles), and a velocity of ~24,000 kilometers per hour (~15,000 miles per hour), its highest ever. This second integrated flight test successfully demonstrated the highly dynamic stage separation system, booster boost-back burn, and all the mitigations that were in place after the first flight.

Post-launch, inspections of the pad revealed that work done to strengthen it, including the water-cooled steel plate, worked as expected and requires little to no refurbishment for the next launch.

Despite being a success in terms of an iterative development program, Starship Super Heavy did in fact explode, thereby falling short of its official objectives and immediately triggering an FAA anomaly review.

Integrated Flight Test 1

On April 20, 2023, Starship lifted off at 9:33 a.m. CT from Starbase, Texas.

SpaceX took a significant step in the development of its rapidly reusable launch vehicle, Starship Super Heavy, by flying it to an altitude of 39 km during its first test flight. While the company did not achieve all of its primary objectives, the flight provided valuable data and accelerated the program by testing critical systems.

The rocket cleared the launch pad and continued its ascent despite losing multiple engines and essential subsystems. As additional engines failed, Starship Super Heavy deviated from its planned trajectory before being destroyed by the flight termination system over the Gulf of Mexico. Approximately four minutes into the flight, just before the massive vehicle self-destructed for safety reasons, SpaceX’s livestream noted that Starship’s visible tumbling in the sky—rather than the planned booster separation—"does not appear to be a nominal situation."

Courtesy of SpaceX

The Super Heavy booster is the first stage of SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship launch system. It is the most powerful rocket booster ever built, designed to propel Starship into orbit with 33 Raptor engines that burn liquid methane and liquid oxygen. These engines generate 7,590 metric tons (16.7 million pounds) of thrust, more than twice that of the Saturn V.

Specs

Height: 71 m (232 ft)

Diameter: 9 m (29.5 ft)

Propellant Capacity: 3,400 t (7.5 million lb)

Thrust: 7,590 tf (16.7 million lbf)

Super Heavy is fully reusable, designed to return to Earth after launch and be caught by the "chopstick" arms of the launch tower at Starbase. This system eliminates the need for landing legs, allowing for rapid turnaround between flights. After stage separation, the booster performs a boostback burn to redirect toward the launch site, an entry burn to slow down during atmospheric reentry, and a landing burn to precisely maneuver into the tower’s arms.

The booster includes several key components, such as four grid fins, a flight computer, vents, and batteries. The grid fins, positioned near the top of the booster, play a critical role in guiding its descent and ensuring an accurate landing on the launch tower’s mechanical arms.

Since the first catch attempt on October 13, 2024 (Starship Flight 5), SpaceX has successfully caught a Super Heavy booster three times. The first catch, achieved on the first attempt, proved the viability of the system. The second catch, during Flight 7 on January 16, 2025, was successful despite one engine failing to relight during the boostback burn. The third catch, during Flight 8 on March 6, 2025, overcame a minor igniter issue before returning safely to the launch tower.

Looking ahead, Flight 9 will mark another major milestone in SpaceX’s reusability efforts, as it will be the first time a Super Heavy booster is reused after a successful catch. The booster assigned to Flight 9 previously flew on Flight 5, making it the first Super Heavy to be reflown after landing. The first Super Heavy reuse will be a step toward SpaceX’s goal of zero-touch reflight, where a booster can be reused without any significant refurbishment between flights. These milestones continue to refine the technology needed for future operational Starship missions.

The Starship system has undergone several name changes over the years, including Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), Interplanetary Transport System (ITS), and Mars Colonial Transporter. In November 2018, SpaceX officially named the system Starship, with the booster designated as Super Heavy.

When launched, Super Heavy accelerates Starship to speeds of Mach 8 or 9 before separating. After separation, Starship continues to orbit under its own power, while Super Heavy returns to the launch site for a controlled landing on the tower’s arms.

Image courtesy of SpaceX

Located on the U.S.-Mexico border along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Boca Chica Village was selected by SpaceX in 2014 as the site for the company's privately-owned orbital launch facility.

Initially, Boca Chica was intended to host Falcon Heavy launches, but the plans soon shifted to a more ambitious project: Starship—SpaceX's multi-purpose transportation spacecraft.

Starbase became operational in 2019, beginning with testing campaigns of the Raptor engines that power Starship.

Image courtesy of Tom Cross for Supercluster.

SpaceX will attempt to land the Super Heavy booster back at Orbital Launch Pad A, utilizing the catch tower's mechanical arms to secure and support the booster, with the goal of achieving a precise and controlled vertical landing.

"Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch attempt of the Super Heavy booster, which will require healthy systems on the booster and tower and a manual command from the mission’s Flight Director. If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico."

Courtesy of SpaceX

Starship is targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This flight path does not require a deorbit burn for reentry, maximizing public safety while still providing the opportunity to meet SpaceX's primary objective of a controlled Starship reentry.

Courtesy of SpaceX

High-quality prints selected from the Supercluster team’s spaceflight photography are now available in our shop.

Our prints are produced on 10 mil (0.25 mm) thick, slightly glossy, fingerprint-resistant photo paper sourced from Japan.

Begin your collection with a shot seen around the world: Erik Kuna’s iconic capture of a young space fan experiencing the jaw-dropping liftoff of Starship Super Heavy.

Commemorate the historic inaugural launch of the Starship Super Heavy with the proper gear.

What else are you going to wear while visiting Starbase?

Purchase our Starship Prototype Tee by clicking here.

Starship Prototype Mission Patch

Mission patch for the SpaceX Starship prototype test program.

3.5" x 3.5"

Iron on backing.

Click here to purchase one from our shop. Supplies are limited.