Integrated Flight Tests

This article provides a list of all Integrated Starship flight tests (so far).

For the earlier suborbital test campaigns, see Test Launches.

For upcoming launches once Starship is operational, see Operational Launches.

Integrated flight tests, or officially just called Starship Flight Tests, are technically suborbital test launches during which SpaceX tests the Starship design.

During these tests, the company continues their iterative approach with each launch vehicle being upgraded based on the learnings from previous flight tests.

Also, the mission profiles are iteratively adapted, although several flight tests may share similar profiles.

Launch Statistics

List of Starship Flight Tests (2023 - present)

Starship Flight Test	Date and Time (CT)	Vehicle	Booster, Version	Ship, Version	Launch site	Payload, mass	Orbit, apogee	Mission Duration	Outcome
Starship Flight Test 1	20 April 2023	Starship 7/24	Block 1, B7	Block 1, S24	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	none	Transatmospheric, 39 km	3 mins, 59 secs	Failed staging and FTS detonation attempt, RUD, failure
Starship Flight Test 2	18 November 2023	Starship 9/25	Block 1, B9	Block 1, S25	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	none	Transatmospheric, 149 km	8 mins, 6 secs	Booster RUD after stage sep; Ship FTS activation after fire/explosions in aft; Partial success
Starship Flight Test 3	14 March 2024	Starship 10/28	Block 1, B10	Block 1, S28	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	none	Suborbital, 234 km	49 mins, 39 secs	Booster hard splashdown; Ship burned up during re-entry; Success
Starship Flight Test 4	6 June 2024	Starship 11/29	Block 1, B11	Block 1, S29	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	none	Suborbital, 213 km	1 hour, 5 mins, 48 secs	Booster on target soft splashdown; Ship few kilometres off but also soft splashdown. Full success.
Starship Flight Test 5	13 October 2024	Starship 12/30	Block 1, B12	Block 1, S30	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	none	Suborbital, 212 km	1 hour, 5 mins, 43 secs	First successful catch; ship completed it's mission successfully, landing in the Indian ocean
Starship Flight Test 6	18 November 2024	Starship 13/31	Block 1, B13	Block 1, S31	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	Banana (a Zero-g indicator placed in S31's payload bay as a joke.)	Transatmospheric, 190 km	1 hour, 5 mins, 40 secs	Successful completion of the ship's mission profile; booster catch attempt was aborted due to issues on the tower.
Starship Flight Test 7	16 January 2025	Starship 14/33	Block 2, B14	Block 2, S33	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	10 Starlink simulator satellites, approx. 20'000 kg (20t)	Transatmospheric, 146 km	8 mins, 26 secs	Second successful booster catch; Ship lost on ascent due to fuel leak
Starship Flight Test 8	06 March 2025	Starship 15/34	Block 2, B15	Block 2, S34	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	4 Starlink simulator satellites, approx. 8'000 kg (8t)	Transatmospheric, ~146 km	9 minutes, 35 seconds	Booster caught by OLIT-1; Ship lost on ascent after a loss of attitude control
Starship Flight Test 9	27 May 2025	Starship 14/35	Block 2, B14	Block 2, S35	Starbase Boca Chica, OLIT-1	8 Starlink simulator satellites, approx. 16'000 kg (16t)	Transatmospheric, Unknown	~47 minutes	Booster destroyed after engine failure, Ship lost during reentry; the Starlink simulators failed to deploy. The success is unclear, as it reached orbit, but failed to acomplish many of its intended mission objectives.

Trajectories

Starship Flight Test 1

Flight test 1 and Flight test 2 targeted a splashdown near Hawaii after slightly less than one full orbital revolution.

Planned IFT-1 trajectory based on marine notices.

Starship Flight Test 2

The planned trajectory was similar to the previous flight from April 2023 with a launch from Boca Chica into a 26.4 degrees inclined orbit with an apogee at 235 km and a splashdown just short of one revolution to the north-east of Kauai, Hawaii, 1.5 hours after launch. It is thus debatable if these flight tests can be called orbital or suborbital.

Planned IFT-2 trajectory.

Orbit

Approximate, estimated orbit (planned):

1 70000U 23999A   23322.54166667  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    05

2 70000 026.3975 054.9842 0064682 110.9574 322.9851 16.30015116    00

Navigational Warnings

132050Z NOV 23

NAVAREA IV 1322/23(11,28).

GULF OF MEXICO.

TEXAS.

1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS, ROCKET LAUNCHING

   AND SPACE DEBRIS 1300Z TO 1539Z DAILY 17, 19 

   AND 20 NOV AND 181300Z TO 181359Z NOV 

   IN AREA BOUND BY

   25-51.00N 096-46.00W, 25-48.00N 096-14.00W,

   25-40.00N 095-03.00W, 25-21.00N 093-15.00W,

   25-26.00N 092-48.00W, 25-58.00N 092-47.00W,

   26-04.00N 093-18.00W, 26-01.00N 094-13.00W,

   26-00.00N 094-48.00W, 26-03.00N 095-43.00W,

   26-06.00N 096-45.00W, 26-07.00N 096-57.00W,

   26-03.00N 097-07.00W, 26-02.00N 097-12.00W,

   25-57.00N 097-12.00W, 25-52.00N 097-01.00W.

2. CANCEL NAVAREA IV 1309/23.

3. CANCEL THIS MSG 201639Z NOV 23
132000Z NOV 23

HYDROPAC 3578/23(19,81,83).

NORTH PACIFIC.

HAWAII TO MARSHALL ISLANDS.

DNC 12, DNC 13.

1. HAZARDOUS OPERATIONS 1410Z TO 1720Z DAILY 

   17, 19 AND 20 NOV AND 181410Z TO 181540Z NOV:

   A. ROCKET LAUNCHING IN AREA BOUND BY

      14-26.00N 172-39.00E, 12-55.00N 169-45.00E,

      11-44.00N 167-39.00E, 11-27.00N 167-49.00E,

      11-52.00N 168-58.00E, 12-48.00N 171-10.00E,

      14-29.00N 175-20.00E, 15-24.00N 177-41.00E,

      16-20.00N 179-40.00W, 17-42.00N 175-13.00W,

      19-35.00N 168-59.00W, 21-01.00N 164-29.00W,

      22-32.00N 160-00.00W, 23-35.00N 156-29.00W,

      24-00.00N 155-28.00W, 24-31.00N 155-39.00W,

      24-14.00N 157-43.00W, 23-26.00N 161-55.00W,

      22-44.00N 165-15.00W, 21-54.00N 167-59.00W,

      20-57.00N 170-54.00W, 19-55.00N 173-55.00W,

      19-03.00N 176-19.00W, 17-39.00N 179-59.00E,

      16-13.00N 176-31.00E, 15-36.00N 175-03.00E.

   B. SPACE DEBRIS IN AREA BOUND BY

      24-02.64N 157-33.72W, 24-08.82N 157-02.82W,

      23-32.16N 156-53.28W, 23-25.80N 157-25.56W.

2. CANCEL HYDROPAC 3550/23.

3. CANCEL THIS MSG 201820Z NOV 23.

Point of Destruction

The estimated point of destruction is the middle of the Gulf of Mexico, near 25.0 N 88.9 W, although it could be slightly more downrange than that. The second map of the gallery shows an estimate on how far any remaining debris would end up, an estimate that strongly depands on the speed upon desturction. The analysis was conducted using the General Mission Analysis Tool (GMAT) and indicated surviving debris some 1500 km downrange from the point of desturction, near the southeastern Bahamas, and north of Cuba and the Dominican Republic (map on the left side). However, NOAA weather image (map on the right side) and video footage indicated debris to be 800km further downrange than on model results, possibly due to disintegration upon atmospheric reentry. Combining the knowledge shows implications that Starship was largely intact until it broke up in the upper atmosphere north of Puerto Rico.

IFT-2 Reentry points GMAT modelled

IFT-2 Debris field GMAT-modelled

Debris field as recorded by NOAA weather data

Starship Flight Test 3

Orbit and Trajectory

The planned flight trajectory for the third flight test differed from the previous test. While those targeted a splashdown near Hawaii, Flight Test 3 had a much shorter flight path, aiming to splash down in the Indian Ocean west of Australia after half of a (sub-) orbital revolution. The following launch shows the hazard zones, which are much more extended than on the previous flights and also have a remarkable shape, suggesting some backward motion. The reentry and splash-down hazard zone at the end of the flight path spans almost the full width of the Indian Ocean, starting near Madagascar and ending near Australia.

Estimated orbit:

1 70000U 24999A   24074.55902778  .00000000  00000-0  00000-0 0    03

2 70000 026.3000 177.8817 0153183 289.7760 142.6230 16.45958778    07

Planned trajectory of IFT-3 with hazard zones.

Reentry and Disintegration Position

Based on the analysis of imagery and telemetry form SpaceX's launch stream, the position of Starship at the start of plasma formation was estimated at 26.28 S, 55.57 E. Loss of telemetry and presumed disintegration was estimated to happen at 26.13 S, 70.51 E. The coast phase which started at 00:08:35 after launch subsequent to the engine cut-off at 150km altitude started at 24.419 N, 84.633 W.

Reentry and Splash Down postions on IFT-3.