After two failures, SpaceX announces a new launch of the Starship rocket for next week

Elon Musk's SpaceX announced Friday that it plans to launch its Starship mega-rocket, designed to one day go to the Moon and Mars, the following week after two consecutive in-flight explosions earlier this year. "Starship's ninth test flight is being prepared to take place starting Tuesday, May 27," the space company wrote on its website, suggesting a possible launch starting at 6:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. GMT) from Boca Chica, Texas.

This new test flight follows two previous attempts that resulted in spectacular explosions at altitude and showers of debris over the Caribbean. Each time, the rocket's first stage, propelling the entire system, managed to return to the launch pad and be caught by mechanical arms, in a spectacular maneuver that only SpaceX has mastered. But the immense spacecraft exploded in flight both times. The US aviation regulator, the FAA, ordered investigations and the suspension of the flights. On Thursday, the agency announced it was authorizing their resumption on the condition that certain modifications be made to the aircraft.

During this new flight, SpaceX will reuse for the first time a rocket's first stage that has already flown and been recovered. This time, however, the first stage will not return to its launch pad, but will "conduct several in-flight experiments" before "crashing violently" into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, recently renamed the Gulf of America by Donald Trump, SpaceX specified. The company of the extremely wealthy entrepreneur Elon Musk is counting on launching multiple prototypes to quickly correct problems encountered during flight.

A philosophy that has made it successful, but is not without criticism, with four of the eight previous Starship test flights having ended in explosions, whether intentional or not. Several associations filed a complaint in 2023 against the American authorities, accusing them of having poorly assessed the environmental impact of these flights. Despite this criticism, the FAA gave the green light in early May to increase the launch rate , which is to increase from 5 to 25 flights per year.