Starbase flight 9 recap with LabPadre

STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Tuesday evening was a huge milestone in space flight.

Starship Super Heavy Flight nine, launched using booster 14-2. a previously used booster from flight seven.

Leading up to the launch day, final checkouts were done with the ship's flaps actuated and tested, along with the chopsticks also being put through the motions.

Ten hours before T-minus zero, a storm cell hit the launch complex area, and the chopsticks were once again activated to save the ship, while the high winds blew through.

Eventually, the storm dissipated.

The pad was cleared, and the tank farm came alive. With all the tank farm systems in motion, the tower started receiving cryogenics to cool down the tower plumbing.

After several holds to ensure all systems were nominal, the flight deck gave the green light, and the super heavy launched into the Texas skies.

The key objectives for this booster's missions included flying the booster during re-entry at a more aggressive angle of attack to gather data on aerodynamic control.

While it didn't achieve a controlled splashdown, it did complete its objective of flying under the aggressive angle of attack and gathering valuable data.

Starship 35 key objectives included ship engine cut off, suborbital insertion, payload deployment, raptor engine relight, and controlled reentry and splashdown.

The ship did complete a ship engine cut-off and reach orbital velocity and altitude, but the payload door seemed to malfunction and was unable to deploy any mock satellites during the coast phase.

A fuel leak caused further issues, resulting in a loss of attitude control, putting the ship in a tumble.

As a result, the engine relight test was canceled, and the ship uncontrollably re-entered the atmosphere and eventually destructed over the Indian Ocean, keeping in mind that these missions are a part of research and development.

Although both the Super Heavy Booster and Starship were lost, the mission provided critical data and flight nine is considered a partial success, especially regarding the reuse of the booster and the performance of the heat shield and other various systems.

For continued live coverage and other detailed Starbase content, visit the LabPadre YouTube channel.