As SpaceX gears up for the ninth test flight of its super-heavy Starship launch vehicle, the company has released findings from its investigation into the explosion of the rocket's upper stage, referred to as "ship", during its eighth test flight in March.
Flight 8 launched March 6 from SpaceX's Starbase manufacturing and test facility on the southern tip of Texas. The mission largely mirrored that of Flight 7, during which the both vehicles' first stage Super Heavy boosters successfully rocketed back to Starbase to be caught by the launch tower's "Mechazilla" chopstick-like arms. Ship, however, for both Flight 7 and Flight 8, did not fare as well as its Super Heavy counterpart. (Starship Flight 9 is scheduled to launch on May 27.)
