Overview

• SpaceX’s ninth Starship test flight is set to lift off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 6:30 p.m. local time on May 27.
• The mission will reutilize a first-stage booster previously recovered by mechanical arms, marking a key reusability milestone.
• Instead of a pad landing, the booster will be deliberately plunged into the Gulf of Mexico to conduct new in-flight experiments aimed at improving future engine performance.
• January and March tests ended in mid-flight explosions that forced trajectory changes, debris diversions and temporary suspension of Starship missions.
• Environmental groups have sued U.S. regulators over alleged underestimation of ecological impacts at SpaceX’s Texas launch site.