SpaceX Starship rocket lost in second test flight

Our live coverage has wrapped up for the day. Read more here about today’s SpaceX launch.

SpaceX's Starship launches from Starbase during its second test flight in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18.

The uncrewed Starship spacecraft launched aboard the most powerful rocket ever built on Saturday morning, but both were lost shortly after liftoff.

The Super Heavy rocket booster ignited its 33 massive engines and Starship experienced a safe liftoff. SpaceX tried “hot staging” for the first time, essentially a step in which the spacecraft separated from the rocket booster by blunt force trauma.

After hot staging, the rocket booster exploded in a fireball over the Gulf of Mexico. Starship initially continued on just fine before SpaceX lost the spacecraft’s signal and triggered the system’s software to terminate the flight so it didn’t veer off course.

Starship was intended to fly nearly a lap around the planet before returning to Earth, but data from this second test flight will be used to determine SpaceX’s next steps in making humanity “multiplanetary.”

Around 10 minutes into the uncrewed test flight, SpaceX lost contact with Starship, and so far hasn’t publicly shared any potential theories as to what might have gone wrong.

In a statement issued after the launch, the company said it would review data from the mission and share updates on its website.

The FAA is also expected to begin a mishap investigation of the test, as is routine after any space mission that does not go exactly to plan. The agency said Saturday in a statement, “No injuries or public property damage have been reported,” as a result of the launch.

SpaceX’s launchpad appears to be fully intact, indicating that a new water deluge system used to dampen the jarring forces of the Super Heavy rocket’s engines during takeoff helped keep the ground facilities safe.

Cameron County — the Texas county that encompasses Starship’s launch site — opened the single road that runs out to SpaceX’s launch facility and the public beaches shortly after launch. It was a quick turnaround for the county, which left the roads closed significantly longer after the inaugural test launch in April.

The launchpad appeared to have avoided becoming a "rock tornado" after Saturday's launch.

One key factor at play: SpaceX acknowledged that the sheer force of Super Heavy’s engines after the April launch tore apart the launchpad. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk referred to it as a “rock tornado.”

But the new deluge system used during this launch shot nearly 360,000 gallons of water upward as the engines ignited during this morning’s launch. When CNN visited the launch site a few hours after takeoff, the stand that the rocket launched from appeared to be unharmed and there were no immediately visible signs of large debris in the area.

After separating from the Super Heavy rocket booster, the Starship spacecraft soared to an altitude of approximately 93 miles (150 kilometers) before SpaceX lost contact, according to a statement issued by the company.

For context, the US government considers 50 miles (80 kilometers) above Earth’s surface the edge of outer space. Internationally, the Kármán line, located 62 miles (100 kilometers) above sea level, is often used to mark the boundary between our planet and space — but there’s a lot of gray area.

SpaceX's Falcon 1 at the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Test Site on Omelek Island, in November 2005.

SpaceX has a lot of rockets and a few programs that start with “Star.” To avoid confusion, here’s a quick recap of some of the things this company has built.

Let’s start with the rockets:

And here are some other notable “Star” references in the commercial space world:

SpaceX is OK with rockets exploding in the early stages of development.

That’s because the company uses a completely different approach to rocket design than, say, NASA. The space agency focuses on building one rocket and strenuously designing and testing it on the ground before its first flight — taking years but all but guaranteeing success on the first launch.

SpaceX, however, rapidly builds new prototypes and is willing to test them to their breaking point because there’s usually a spare nearby. During a drive by the company’s facilities on Friday — four Starship spacecraft and at least two Super Heavy boosters could be seen from public roadways.

Most of the public at today’s launch of the Starship rocket system watched from South Padre Island, which lies about 5 miles away from the launch site across the water.

But one group of hardcore fans got a bit closer to the behemoth rocket as it roared to life, sending out shockwaves of sonic booms and plumes of exhaust and dust across the landscape.

They gathered at a place aptly named Rocket Ranch — which was created for SpaceX obsessionists.

The camping site and a remote viewing location lie just up the road from the Starship’s launchpad off Boca Chica Highway, a narrow strip of asphalt that serves as the only way of trekking to and from SpaceX’s facilities in South Texas.

The sun rises over "The Outpost" — a launch viewing location dedicated to Starship.

When CNN visited on Friday ahead of the launch, Rocket Ranch’s managing partner — Anthony Gomez — was herding dozens of campers and SpaceX fans onto a refurbished school bus.

Guests had to travel by bus from the camping ground to the viewing site on Friday night because the surrounding roads were blocked off ahead of the launch to keep people out of the area. Otherwise, the only way to access “The Outpost” is by a small pontoon boat in the Rio Grande River.

The viewing site is so close to the pad that patrons had to sign waivers.

“I voluntarily assume all risks associated with viewing rocket launches on Rocket Ranch property, including the risk of physical and emotional harm,” the waiver reads.

Overnight, the spectators made fajitas as the excitement built.

Crowds of SpaceX fans gathered at "The Outpost," a viewing site for the launch available to guests of the nearby Rocket Ranch. The "Don't Panic" sign is a reference to Douglas Adams' famed book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." SpaceX has also used the reference.

Gomez said the crowds grew rowdy as the countdown clock ticked through its final seconds, screaming “go Starship!”

The sounds of the engines “shook you to your core,” he said.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which licensed the Starship’s test flight today, just issued a statement:

The agency is expected to begin a mishap investigation of the launch, as is routine after any space mission that does not go exactly to plan.

It took more than four months for the FAA to complete the last mishap investigation after Starship’s test flight in April.

Starship launches for a test flight from SpaceX's Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18.

The Super Heavy booster — the bottommost portion of the Starship system that gives the first burst of power at liftoff — was able to ignite all 33 of its Raptor engines at liftoff.

That had not been done before. Even during ground tests, SpaceX has had a hard time getting all of those engines, clustered together at the base of the rocket, to power on consistently at the same time.

But all of the engines appeared to function as intended this time around, burning together throughout the entire duration of Super Heavy’s flight, which lasted about two and a half minutes, or until it ran out of most of its fuel.

Super Heavy then exploded as SpaceX tested out a new means of separating the rocket booster from the Starship spacecraft — but SpaceX had already achieved something big.

SpaceX's Starship is seen during a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18.

NASA’s chief — Bill Nelson — offered his congratulations after the Starship flight.

Jim Free — associate administrator for NASA’s exploration systems development mission directorate — also posted a note on social media saying that this test flight marked a step forward for the Starship development program.

NASA is paying SpaceX up to more than $4 billion for Starship. The space agency intends to use the spacecraft to land astronauts on the moon under its flagship Artemis program.

The first landing using a Starship vehicle is slated for as soon as December 2025. But Free has previously expressed concerns that Starship won’t be ready in time, warning the mission could slip to 2026 or NASA could be forced to design a new flight profile.

Free was recently promoted to be NASA’s associate administrator — the agency’s third highest-ranking executive. He will take over that role in December.

SpaceX's Starship launches for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18.

SpaceX did not finish the entire mission, and both the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster exploded over the ocean.

But there were some big highlights for SpaceX.

The rocket made it much further into its flight profile than during the first flight attempt in April, when Starship began tumbling tail-over-head about four minutes after liftoff. The Starship never even separated from the Super Heavy booster during that test.

This time, however, SpaceX did achieve that milestone: About two and a half minutes into flight, the Starship powered up its engines and successfully broke away using a brand new method called “hot staging.”

SpaceX had already said it would consider the mission a success if Starship made it past that point. And it did.

It did not, however, go exactly as planned. The Super Heavy booster began tumbling out of control just after separation, and it exploded over the Gulf of Mexico just moments later. SpaceX had hoped to reignite the Super Heavy’s engines and guide it to a controlled landing.

Losing the booster isn’t a huge setback. Initially, Starship continued moving along just fine after breaking away from Super Heavy.

A plume forms as SpaceX's Starship separates from its booster during a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Saturday, November 18.

About 8 minutes after liftoff, cheers could be heard echoing throughout mission control as the Starship was approaching the end of its engine burn — putting it on a path toward Earth’s orbit.

But 9 minutes after launch — SpaceX made it clear that it lost video signal with Starship.

And about 11 and a half minutes into the flight, the company confirmed it had lost data. That indicated Starship wasn’t flying as planned.

Engineer John Insprucker, hosting SpaceX’s livestream, then confirmed SpaceX was forced to destroy Starship so it didn’t veer off course.

The company is already emphasizing that, in its view, this test was a success.

In a tweet, the company said the same thing as it did after April’s short-lived test flight:

The company has been known to embrace failures and fiery mishaps in the early stages of rocket development. It’s built into the company’s engineering philosophy, which welcomes early risks during test flights in the name of learning and refining the vehicle’s design quicker than if it relied on ground tests.

The Starship system made it much further into flight than the first attempt in April, but ultimately ended in another explosion.

The rocket and spacecraft safely lifted off the pad, with the Super Heavy booster igniting all 33 of its engines. During the last attempt, multiple engines shut down prematurely.

Then, the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft successfully separated, as the Starship lit up its engines and pushed away.

That process, however, ended up destroying the Super Heavy booster, which erupted into a ball of flames over the Gulf of Mexico. But the Starship spacecraft was able to briefly continue its journey.

A few minutes later, however, SpaceX was not able to regain a signal from the vehicle. And the company confirmed on its livestream that it was forced to trigger Starship’s self-destruct feature.

As Starship was set to enter the coast phase, SpaceX said it was unable to receive data from Starship’s second stage.

This means the spacecraft “wouldn’t be able wouldn’t be able to come back in an hour or so and possibly get ready for reentry,” according to the SpaceX live stream.

The company confirmed on its livestream that it was forced to trigger Starship’s “flight termination system” — which is essentially a self-destruct feature that SpaceX engaged to prevent the Starship from traveling off course.

SpaceX ended the livestream shortly after.

The Super Heavy booster just blew up.

It wasn’t supposed to do that. SpaceX was hoping to guide it to a controlled spalshdown in the ocean.

But the spacecraft — the crucial part — is still moving, blaring to faster speeds toward space.

The SpaceX Starship launches on Saturday, November 18.

The countdown clock struck zero and the Super Heavy booster attempted to light up its 33 engines, roaring to life and sending a deafening boom across the launch site.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket just hit “Max Q,” an aerospace term that refers to the point during flight at which a vehicle experiences its maximum dynamic pressure.

Put simply: It’s when the rocket is moving at very high speed, at a time when the atmosphere is still pretty thick, putting a lot of pressure on the vehicle. 

The Super Heavy rocket has expended most of its fuel, and it just separated from Starship, which was riding atop the gargantuan Super Heavy booster.

This marks a crucial moment for SpaceX.

The company was attempting a new method for separating the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft mid-launch. Instead of using technical thrusters to push the two pieces apart, Starship ignited its own six Raptor engines — while the Super Heavy was still firing a few of its own — to forcefully push itself away.

Super Heavy is now heading back toward the ocean, where it will be discarded.

Starship is now continuing on its mission to space.

The first attempt to send Starship spaceward generated what Musk referred to as a “rock tornado” at liftoff as the sheer force of the rocket blew apart the launchpad. It spewed debris up to 20 acres outside the area that federal regulators initially expected.

And that all happened before the rocket exploded over the Gulf of Mexico.

In the hopes of avoiding a repeat, SpaceX has spent the last several months making some changes at the launchpad.

One key addition is a new water deluge system.

Essentially, it’s a massive steel plate that has holes in it, allowing water to shoot up. The “massive super strong steel shower head” — again, Musk’s words — will spray water when it’s time for liftoff in order to dampen the jarring vibrations and heat given off by Super Heavy’s monstrous engines.

The Federal Aviation Administration described the new system like this:

SpaceX’s launchpad at Starbase — the name of the company’s sprawling facility that has popped up by the Gulf of Mexico at the southernmost tip of Texas — has some unique features.

The large metal arms that look like they’re giving the rocket a hug aren’t a typical launchpad feature. SpaceX has a unique plan for this structure, which CEO Elon Musk has dubbed “Mechazilla.”

Eventually, SpaceX hopes these arms will catch the Starship spacecraft mid-air as it flies back home from a trip to space.

That maneuver has never been tried before — but it’s not entirely unlike the method SpaceX uses to land and recover its other rockets.

The company’s Falcon 9 rocket pioneered propulsive landing: It became the first to complete a soft touchdown of its booster after a flight in April 2016.

It used its engines, a set of hardware called grid fins to steer itself, and four legs attached to the base to make a gentle landing on a seafaring platform, called a droneship.

SpaceX has since perfected the maneuver, with 230 booster landings under its belt. (And that doesn’t even count Falcon Heavy booster landings.)

The main difference for Starship is that — instead of relying on landing legs — SpaceX plans to fly the rocket booster straight into Mechazilla’s giant metal arms, catching it before it hits the ground.

SpaceX won’t attempt to land Starship or Super Heavy today. Both will instead be discarded into the ocean.

But, before it hits the water, SpaceX will attempt to test out a landing maneuver by reigniting Super Heavy’s engines.

That should happen about six minutes and 30 seconds into flight — if all goes well.

Later, the Starship spacecraft may attempt something similar, making use of a belly flop maneuver as it heads in for landing over an hour into its flight.