SpaceX's Starship Spins Out of Control and Burns Up After Reaching Space

[Eugene]

SpaceX’s Starship Spins Out of Control and Burns Up After Reaching Space (Gizmodo)

After back-to-back failed attempts, Starship managed to reach space during the ninth test flight, but fell short on several key goals.

Update: May 27, 8:25 p.m. ET: Announcers on the SpaceX broadcast said Starship will break up above and crash into the planned landing zone in the Indian Ocean. They added that the Super Heavy booster was indeed lost.

Update: May 27, 8:18 p.m. ET: SpaceX anticipates the total loss of Starship as a result of the uncontrolled reentry. It’s expected to crash into the Indian Ocean—or at least, bits and pieces of the vehicle.

Update: May 27, 8:13 p.m. ET: About 30 minutes into the mission, SpaceX announced that Starship had fallen into an unrecoverable spin as the result of the loss of attitude control. The spacecraft is suborbital and will perform an atmospheric reentry, but it will be an uncontrolled one. SpaceX pushed Starship further than in the previous two tests, but this latest flight can hardly be called a success.

https://gizmodo.com/watch-live-as-spacex-tries-to-break-starships-explosive-losing-streak-2000607609

[Blue Owl]

1. If only Musk was aboard.... How do we get him on one of these things?

[WhiteTara]

2. 0 for 2 tyrants

win for the rest of us.

[magicarpet]

3. Now that djt is back in the Oval Office,...

.... eLoon and SpaceX have nothing to be concerned about if their rockets explode and rain debris back to populated earth.

In matter of fact any complaints previously under investigation have disappeared because that was the DOGE Team's first and foremost job assignment. Cleaning the slate of any governmental investigations, complaint files, potential law suits or actions against Musk's companies was the secret job one for DOGE to accomplish - Pronto.

Now it is smooth sailing and a spiffy clean slate - absent any pending government investigations about Ketamine Musk or his companies.

[Ol Janx Spirit]

4. To make progress you can't be afraid to fail. I will give them a lot of credit for this...

I feel like Boeing was afraid to fail in public and that came back to bite them in a very public way. SpaceX is not actually FEloon. It is a collection of engineers working on some of the most challenging projects in history, and they have managed to overcome so many obstacles thus far. It is unfortunate that he is the face of their work, but it is this work that will create the breakthroughs that will carry humanity forward. I would love for it to be NASA or Boeing, but we are where we are...

[riversedge]

5. Photo of it spinning..............

🚨 Starship Spinning Out of Control—Impact Point Unknown

SpaceX’s Starship is spiraling wildly out of control in orbit, and right now, it’s anyone’s guess where this damn thing is going to land. Originally planned to splash down in the Indian Ocean, the vehicle has lost attitude control, meaning it can’t orient itself for a safe reentry.

And let’s be blunt—without control, this is a 150-foot, multi-ton steel missile just tumbling through space. They hope it hits the ocean. But "hope" isn’t a guidance system.

This is no longer a precision landing. It's a high-stakes cosmic dice roll with Earth as the board.

Stay tuned. Shit just got real.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[Prairie Gates]

6. God don't like ugly

[jls4561]

7. Message from the intelligent aliens: Tell Elon to clean up his space junk!

And send more Chuck Berry!

[Bayard]

8. Snorf!

[ret5hd]

9. hey Elon: any REAL leader would do this:

(don’t be such a wuss elon…do it!)

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/05/26/asia/north-korea-arrests-failed-warship-launch-intl-hnk

[LearnedHand]

10. If it was an unmanned flight, then fuck that guy

His hubris is definitely cracking.

[dchill]

11. Glad we're not paying for that!

(I know - we probably are.)

[Eugene]

12. Starship is supposed to land NASA astronauts on the moon. NASA has paid $3 billion in a fixed-price contract.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

13. Baby steps Elon

You did better than last time but you aren't quite there.

[BoRaGard]

14. G.O.P.ers are flagrantly incompetent