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Title: How to watch SpaceX's ninth Starship flight test on Tuesday

Date: Sun, 25 May 2025 21:34:24 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/science/space/how-to...

The FAA last week cleared SpaceX's Starship to fly again after concluding its
review of the previous flight, which ended in an explosion, and the next test
could now take off as soon as Tuesday. SpaceX is eyeing May 27 for Starship's
ninth flight test, with a launch window opening at 7:30PM ET (6:30PM local
time for the Texas Starbase). This launch will mark the first time SpaceX
reuses a Super Heavy booster; the booster for flight nine previously flew
with Starship's seventh flight test earlier this year. While single-use parts
have been replaced, SpaceX says it's reusing 29 of the booster's 33 Raptor
engines.

As always, viewers at home will be able to watch along by tuning into the
livestream, starting about 30 minutes before Starship launches. That will be
available on SpaceX's website and in a broadcast on its X profile.

Watch Starship's ninth flight test → https://t.co/Gufroc2kUz
https://t.co/NYF0ZMyeGp

ΓÇö SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 23, 2025

SpaceX conducted Starship's eighth flight test back in March, but the vehicle
ran into some issues a few minutes after launch. The Super Heavy booster was
able to return to the launch site after separation from the upper stage and
be successfully caught by the tower's "chopstick" arms, but as for the ship
itself, several Raptor engines shut off, causing it to tumble and ultimately
blow itself up.

SpaceX says the issue was likely due to "a hardware failure in one of the
upper stageΓÇÖs center Raptor engines that resulted in inadvertent propellant
mixing and ignition." It's since made some changes to prevent that from
happening again. SpaceX said in an update on May 22 that "engines on the
StarshipΓÇÖs upper stage will receive additional preload on key joints, a new
nitrogen purge system, and improvements to the propellant drain system."

For flight nine, the Super Heavy booster won't return to the launch site, but
will instead splash down in the ocean. The Starship upper stage will attempt
to deploy eight Starlink dummy satellites, and SpaceX is otherwise looking to
this flight to test "several experiments focused on enabling StarshipΓÇÖs
upper stage to return to the launch site."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/science/space/how-to...
flight-test-on-tuesday-213424312.html?src=rss

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