Starship Flight 8

Ship 34 was the second Block 2 Starship, and it failed in the same phase of flight as the first.

On 6 March 2025, Booster 15 and Ship 34 lifted from Starbase in the early evening. The booster returned and was caught by the tower for the third time in four attempts, performing a longer-than-usual boostback burn after two engines failed to relight. Ship 34 reached the same phase of ascent that had ended Ship 33 two months earlier — and lost engines at T+8:04 to a hardware failure in one of its sea-level Raptors, which caused propellant to mix and ignite in the engine bay. The ship lost attitude control and contact, and broke up over Florida and the Bahamas; debris was visible from Jamaica and the Turks and Caicos.

The FAA opened a second consecutive mishap investigation. Eight corrective actions were imposed before SpaceX could fly again.