Integrated Flight Test 2

Mission

Integrated Flight Test 2

• Type: Test Flight
• Orbit: Suborbital

Second test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. The booster is expected to separate 170 seconds into flight and return to land approximately 32 km off the shore in the Gulf of Mexico. The second stage will follow a suborbital trajectory and perform an unpowered splashdown approximately 100 km off the northwest coast of Kauai (Hawaii).

Flight termination system activated on Starship after T+8 minutes, seconds before planned SECO, due to a leak of liquid oxygen causing a combustion event and fires which led to a loss of communication. Booster was destroyed during the boost-back burn. most likely due to a filter blockage on a liquid oxygen line supplying the engines. Most planned primary objectives achieved.

Location

Orbital Launch Mount A

SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Orbital Launch Mount A has witnessed the launch of 7 rockets, including 0 orbital launch attempts. While SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA, has been the site for 16 rocket launches.

Starbase is an industrial complex for Starship rockets and the headquarters of the American aerospace manufacturer company SpaceX. Located near Brownsville, Texas, United States, it has been under construction since the late 2010s by SpaceX. Starbase is composed of a spaceport near the Gulf of Mexico, a production facility at the Boca Chica village, and a small structure test site along the Texas State Highway 4.

Rocket

SpaceX Starship

Fully reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle.

Learn more about SpaceX Starship

Core Booster 9

Booster 9 was expected to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico following the second integrated test flight of Starship, but was lost after stage separation. Booster Booster 9 last launched 11/18/2023 and has seen 0 successful launches and landings. Super Heavy booster that was used for the second Starship integrated flight test and lost after separation.

Gulf of Mexico - GOM

Gulf of Mexico

Ocean - Ocean

No recovery attempt

Agency

SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.