Launch failure
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Historical mission record
This page records Starship | Integrated Flight Test and its reported outcome: Launch Failure. The date above is a historical record.
Source record updated . This is a source update, not a confirmed launch time.
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Mission status
Launch Failure
Status reported by the mission data provider.
LAUNCH SITESpaceX Starbase, TX, USA
Mission
Maiden flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. The booster was supposed to separate 170 seconds into flight and return to land approximately 32 km off the shore in the Gulf of Mexico. The second stage would have followed a suborbital trajectory and performed an unpowered splashdown approximately 100 km off the northwest coast of Kauai (Hawaii). A launch failure was experienced before stage separation.
- Launch vehicle
- Starship V1
- Mission type
- Test Flight
- Destination orbit
- Suborbital
- Spacecraft
- Ship 24
- Destination
- Pacific Ocean
- Launch pad
- Orbital Launch Pad 1
- Provider
- SpaceX
- Programs
- SpaceX Starship
- Recovery
- Ocean, Booster 7 was expected to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico following the maiden flight of Starship, but was lost in a launch failure during ascent.
The vehicle
Published configuration and flight history.
Launch vehicle
Starship V1
First development version of the Starship reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle.
- Height
- 121.3 m
- Diameter
- 9 m
- Stages
- 2
- Recorded launches
- 6
- First flight
- 2023-04-20
Core
Booster 7
Flight 1New
- Recovery
- Gulf of Mexico
- Landing method
- Ocean
Recorded timing
This is a mission record, not an upcoming calendar appointment.
1h 2m windowPublished target
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Target ·
The target marker shows its position within the published window. The schedule may change before launch.
Mission update
After liftoff, the vehicle sustained fires from leaking propellant in the aft end of the Super Heavy booster, severing connection with the vehicle’s primary flight computer. This led to a loss of communications to most of the booster engines and eventually control of the vehicle. After the second stage failed to separate from the first stage, the vehicle reached an apogee of ~39km before tumbling downwards until the flight termination system was activated. Unexpected severe damage was also imparted on the launch pad.
Launch site & orbit
SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA
The mission in perspective
Launch site
DestinationSuborbital
Explore the launch pad on Earth using its published coordinates.
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Coverage & sources
Links supplied by the mission data provider.
Coverage and times may change.
Mission coverage
Starship Flight Test ↗Explore on iPhone
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