Starship flight test 10

Starship flight test 10 will be the tenth flight test of a SpaceX Starship launch vehicle. Booster 16 and most likely Ship 37 will fly on this test flight.^[2][3] As of mid-June 2025, the flight profile is unknown. Because of incidents during Flight 9, it is likely Flight 10's ship will land in the Indian Ocean.^[4] The launch was initially expected no earlier than (NET) June 29, 2025,^[5] but due to the explosion of Ship 36 the current launch timeline is unknown.

Ship 36 was assembled in Mega Bay 2 throughout February and March 2025.^[6] It was rolled out to the Massey's test site for cryogenic testing on April 26.^[7][8] It conducted a full cryogenic test on April 27.^[9] It was rolled back to Mega Bay 2 for engine installation on April 29.^[10] It was rolled out to the Massey's test site on June 15, followed by conducting a single engine 6 second duration static fire on June 16.^[11][12] As propellant was being loaded for static fire testing on June 18, Ship 36 exploded, resulting in severe damage to the Massey's test site.^[13][14]

Booster 16 conducted a cryogenic test on February 28,^[15] before being rolled back to the production site on March 20 for engine installation.^[16] It rolled out to the launch site on June 3 for static fire testing.^[17] On June 5, it began filling with propellant ahead of a static fire test. The test was aborted just after the booster had completed propellant loading, with B16 being de-tanked shortly after.^[18] Booster 16 then completed an 8 second duration static fire on June 6.^[19][20] It was then lifted off the OLM on June 7 and rolled back to MB1 on June 8.

SpaceX has suffered a succession of flight test failures since Flight 7.^[21][22] During Flight 7 on January 16, 2025, initial data indicated that a fire occurred mid-flight, resulting in the destruction of the vehicle. The failures resulted in a U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigation that delayed Flight 8.^[23][24]

During Flight 8, four engines shut down approximately 30 seconds before the planned SECO, resulting in loss of control, telemetry, and subsequent vehicle burnout.^[25] The FAA opened an investigation into the crash,^[26] but on May 22, the FAA determined that the Flight 8 failure did not impact public safety.^[27] On June 12, the FAA announced that the mishap investigation into Flight 8 was closed.^[28]

On Flight 9, the vehicle reached its intended trajectory, but several failures occurred, including a loss of attitude control, which prevented Starship from achieving most of its objectives, and it disintegrated during reentry.^[21][22] On May 30th, FAA ordered SpaceX to conduct an investigation regarding Flight 9.^[29] It is not known at this time whether the failure in Flight 9 could affect the schedule of subsequent tests.

On June 18, Ship 36 experienced a major anomaly in the upper-half section of what is indicated as a COPV failure, and resulted in an explosion and total loss of the vehicle.^[30][14] Though it had damaged the Massey's test site initially, fires continued into the transition of the morning hours of June 19, with confirmed fires still being sighted by 1:30 AM CDT.^[14]

These continued fires likely resulted to much more prolonged damage to the test site, although it is unknown as to what exactly was damaged.

Due to the aforementioned loss of the vehicle, Ship 36 is no longer the designated spacecraft for the flight test. The designated spacecraft will most likely be Ship 37, the only ship—with S38/S39 under construction as of mid-June 2025—stacked, and awaiting engine installation. Due to the timeline of the flight test being unknown however, it is not confirmed if Ship 37 will be the spacecraft designated for the flight test.