SpaceX’s Starship Breaks Up Over Indian Ocean During Latest Test Flight

 Brownsville, Texas | May 28, 2025 — SpaceX’s latest test flight of its Starship rocket, the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed, ended in partial failure on Tuesday as the spacecraft disintegrated over the Indian Ocean following a series of critical anomalies. The vehicle, central to Elon Musk’s long-term vision of human colonization of Mars, demonstrated progress over prior attempts but ultimately failed to complete its mission.

The fourth full-scale test flight of the integrated Starship system launched at 6:36 p.m. local time from SpaceX’s sprawling facility in Starbase, Texas, a recently incorporated city named after the company’s ambitious project. The flight began with promise, but the mission encountered setbacks during multiple phases of its trajectory.

The first issue arose when the Super Heavy booster, designed to execute a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, exploded shortly after stage separation. Moments later, the Starship upper stage failed to open its payload bay doors, which were intended to deploy test simulators for the company’s Starlink satellite constellation.

Though Starship reached farther than in any of its previous three integrated launches, the vehicle experienced structural damage, leaks, and began an uncontrolled spin in space before re-entering the atmosphere. The spacecraft eventually broke apart over the Indian Ocean in what SpaceX described as a "rapid unscheduled disassembly"—a now familiar euphemism the company uses for mission failure.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk, observing from ground control while wearing an “Occupy Mars” T-shirt, remained optimistic despite the setbacks. He announced that the launch cadence for future Starship flights would increase significantly, aiming for one flight every three to four weeks.

Tuesday’s launch followed a green light from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which had granted a license for the test just four days earlier, concluding a mishap investigation that had grounded the rocket system since March. The FAA also expanded the debris hazard zones in anticipation of potential complications, following previous tests that resulted in mid-air explosions and falling debris over the Caribbean.

Despite the high-stakes nature of the test, public interest remained strong. Crowds of space enthusiasts gathered at Isla Blanca Park on nearby South Padre Island, with several tourist boats dotting the lagoon for a clear view. Among them was Piers Dawson, a 50-year-old Australian who planned his family’s first U.S. vacation around the launch. “I’m obsessed with the rocket,” he told AFP. “This is history in the making.”

Fellow enthusiast Joshua Wingate, a 33-year-old tech entrepreneur from Austin, echoed the scientific spirit behind the mission. “In science, there’s never failure,” he said. “You learn something from every test, and this was still incredibly exciting to witness.”

While the test did not achieve full mission success, SpaceX continues to push the envelope of aerospace engineering. The incremental data gathered from each flight is critical to the eventual goal of establishing interplanetary transport. The company’s engineering teams are now analyzing telemetry to refine both the booster and spacecraft systems ahead of the next scheduled launch.