Starship launches: Super Heavy lands in Gulf of Mexico

Starship S35 and Super Heavy booster B14-2 lifted off from SpaceX’s Boca Chica/Starbase production and testing complex at 6:36 p.m. Tuesday.

This was Starship’s ninth suborbital test flight. The Federal Aviation Administration announced May 22 that it was allowing SpaceX to launch Starship again with the completion of a “comprehensive safety review” of the SpaceX-led mishap investigation into Flight 8 on March 6, when the uncrewed Starship S34 exploded less than nine minutes after liftoff and stage separation, raining debris over the Caribbean and Atlantic.

Super Heavy B14-2, the first booster to be reused, was supposed to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico following stage separation but did not make it.

One of two boosters SpaceX has successfully “caught” upon returning to the launch tower at Boca Chica following stage separation from Starship, B14-2 exploded about 6 minutes and 30 seconds after launch rather than landing in the Gulf of Mexico as intended. SpaceX said it was not planning another booster catch attempt with Flight 9, but rather had planned to run a series of experiments before landing it in the Gulf.

Starship is on a trajectory toward splashdown in the Indian Ocean near Australia, expected roughly one hour after launch. The company repeated the trajectory of Flights 7-8 for Starship’s ninth flight, with the ship successfully reaching the intended splashdown target in the Indian Ocean near Australia.

The goals for S35 were the same as for the previous two Starships: deploying eight mock satellites (expected to be incinerated during reentry) and relighting of one of Starship’s six Raptor engines while in space

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