The big day is here. All looks good for the Flight 9 Starship launch and landing test today. SpaceX is attempting another Starship launch today.
Watch the live-stream of the Flight 9 webcast on official and 3rd-party (YouTube) below. You can read the live text updates as well below.
Official Flight 9 Live Stream Recording
Flight 9 YouTube Live Stream Recording by NasaSpaceFlight.com
Related: Starship Flight 9 objectives: hits and misses
Starship Flight 9 Events Live Updates Archive
- The weather looks great for today’s Flight 9 Starship launch
- Ship 35 and Booster 14 look good for the launch
- Re-flying Booster 14 today is a great milestone for Starship reusability
- Raptor Engine 314 is flying for the 3rd time (more reusability)
- SpaceX is aiming for seamless full reusability on future flights (without the need for maintenance between flights)
- ~17 mins remaining for lift-off
- No issues with the vehicle, aiming for 6:30 PM CT for launch
- SpaceX is not attempting a Super Heavy landing catch today
- Today’s splashdown landing of Super Heavy will provide data into the landing performance of the engines
- SpaceX will not fire the center 3 engines of the Super Heavy on landing today, the outer ring of engines around the center 3 engines will be ignited for a landing burn (a real-world test of Super Heavy landing if the center 3 engines fail)
- The new method at landing might result in unexpected Super Heavy angles at landing
- Ninth flight test of Starship looks good, tracking no technical issues at ~T- 6 minutes
- Flight 9 Super Heavy Booster 14 will attempt a soft splashdown landing in the Gulf of America (near the Boca Chica Beach, Texas)
- SpaceX is expecting a hold at the T-40 seconds mark
- SpaceX is holding at T-40 seconds (Flight Director calls for a hold)
- Another hold, the clock jumps back to T-40 seconds from T-10 seconds
- Looks like a ground-side issue (still not called a SCRUB)
- If Flight 9 is a scrub today, SpaceX will replenish 11 million pounds of propellant from both stages (Super Heavy and Starship 35 upper stage)
- The clock is rolling again
- Flight 9 Starship lifts off from Starbase, Texas
- 33 out of 33 Raptor engines are lit
- MaxQ achieved at T+1 min 15 seconds
- SpaceX is attempting a first-ever Super Heavy flip
- Stage Separation confirmed
- Super Heavy is descending rapidly
- As the landing burn began, telemetry is lost from the Super Heavy Booster 14
- SpaceX lost the booster (RUD) before actual landing
- Ship 35: Ship engine cutoff successful
- At T+18 minutes 30 seconds, SpaceX will attempt to deploy Starlink V2 simulator satellites (payload deployment)
- 8 Starlink simulators will be deployed
- Starlink simulators will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and will safely splashdown in the ocean without interfering with other satellites
- The payload door didn’t actuate completely
- Starlink V2 simulator satellites are not going to be deployed today
- Flight 9 Starship 35 is coasting suborbital
- SpaceX plans for a soft splashdown landing of the Flight 9 Starship upper stage in the Indian Ocean (trajectory infographic here)
- Stay tuned as Flight 9 Starship makes an atmospheric reentry
- SpaceX has lost attitude (angle) control of the Starship (around ~T+31 mins)
- Most probably, it’s not going to be a controlled reentry and splashdown (uncontrolled attitude)
- SpaceX made progress today by going through the Starship complete engine cutoff stage (SECO) but the Ship is going through an uncontrolled attitude
- Trajectory is still the same (landing in the Indian Ocean)
- Going to skip the Raptor relight in space
- The wrong reentry attitude is not good for gathering the heat shield data
- Around 10 minutes remaining in atmospheric reentry and hitting the plasma
- Flaps are moving, but the attitude is still out of control at T+39 mins 50 seconds
- Flight 9 Starship upper stage hits plasma at reentry but with the wrong angle (the side without the heat shields)
- SpaceX is venting all the remaining propellant on board
- Starship flaps are melting on reentry as temperatures rise as high as 1400℃ (2552℉)
- Air space in Australia (Indian Ocean) is closed for flights for safety
- SpaceX has lost contact with the Ship (Flight 9 Starship launch test comes to an end)
Related SpaceX / Starship News
- SpaceX announces Starship’s Flight 12 launch date
- Flight 12 Starship Booster 19 performs a full-duration 33-engine static fire test ahead of launch
- SpaceX conducts successful static fire tests on Starship 39 and Booster 19, Flight 12 happening in a few weeks
- Starship Flight 12: Booster 19’s 10-engine static fire ends abruptly, SpaceX prepares for a 33-engine static fire test
- Starship Flight 12: V3 Booster 19 shows better propellant load speeds, static fire next with only 10 Raptor 3 engines
- Starship Flight 12: SpaceX to test Raptor 3 engines on the V3 Booster 19 for the first time
 and YouTube. Get live text updates of the events as they unfold.){kind=link}