On March 3, 2025, SpaceX’s Starship test at Starbase, Texas, ended in failure, marking the second major anomaly of the year. The mission aimed to deploy mock satellites for SpaceX’s Mars program but resulted in loss of control, an explosive disintegration, and a crash landing that briefly disrupted Florida air traffic.
Starship, crucial to SpaceX’s interplanetary ambitions, has undergone multiple test flights, each revealing challenges in its development. The March 3 flight began successfully, with the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor engines performing nominally.
At two and a half minutes, the booster executed a planned shutdown for hot-staging separation, initially proceeding as expected before the failure occurred. The incident raises concerns about Starship’s reliability moving forward.
