Starship flight test 9 was the ninth flight test of a SpaceX Starship launch vehicle. Ship 35 and Booster 14-2 flew on this test flight. This flight launched on May 27, 2025 at 23:36 UTC (6:36 pm CDT, local time at the launch site).^[1] The Ship attempted to achieve the objectives originally planned for Flights 7 and 8, which both failed. This mission’s booster, the first Super Heavy to re-fly, underwent experiments in-flight to have its capabilities assessed under off-nominal flight conditions,^[2] and was expected to splash down instead of being caught.^[3][4]

This mission made it to orbital velocity, but several failures, including a loss of attitude control, prevented the Ship from achieving most of its objectives, and it disintegrated during reentry. The booster was destroyed over a designated splashdown area in the Gulf of Mexico after attempting a landing burn under a more aggressive angle of attack than usual.^[5]