USA TODAY NETWORK SpaceX has announced that it is targeting Tuesday, May 27 for Starship's ninth flight test. Liftoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET from SpaceX's Starbase. SpaceX intends to reuse for the first time a Super Heavy booster rocket that has launched before. It also will take a third shot at a Starlink payload deployment test. But SpaceX won't attempt to return the Super Heavy booster to the launch pad to catch it with its "chopsticks." SpaceX's massive Starship launch vehicle, which is due to play a key role in future crewed space missions, is due to get off the ground on its latest test flight. The upcoming launch, slated for Tuesday, May 27, from SpaceX's launch site in South Texas, would be the commercial spaceflight company's first test of Starship since the spacecraft's upper portion exploded in March for the second consecutive time. For the next test mission, referred to as Flight 9, SpaceX said it has made modifications to the 400-foot vehicle as the company continues to develop Starship for expeditions in the years ahead to the moon and Mars. SpaceX, headed by billionaire Elon Musk, is also eyeing a few key objectives to prepare Starship for more frequent flights after receiving key regulatory approval to significantly ramp up testing. Additionally, Starship is intended to once again attempt to deploy Starlink satellite simulators – an objective it has been unable so far to pull off. "Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable," SpaceX said on its website. "But by putting hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we’re able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle." Here's everything to know about Starship, and what SpaceX is planning for the vehicle's next flight test. SpaceX rocket launch: When is Starship flight 9? SpaceX has announced that it is targeting Tuesday, May 27, for Starship's ninth flight test. Liftoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT (7:30 p.m. ET) from SpaceX's Starbase, the company's headquarters in Boca Chica about 23 miles from Brownsville near the U.S.-Mexico border. SpaceX to reuse Super Heavy rocket booster in 1st attempt SpaceX intends to reuse for the first time a Super Heavy booster rocket that has launched before. The booster, which was used in Starship's seventh flight test in January, features some new components, including a replaced heat shield. But most of the booster’s hardware will be reused, or what SpaceX refers to as "flight-proven" – including 29 of its 33 Raptor engines. SpaceX is hoping the data it gathers from reusing a booster will help the company progress toward faster turnaround times between Starship launches. The objective comes as the Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial rocket launches, gave SpaceX the greenlight earlier in May to conduct 25 Starship launches per year. Ultimately, SpaceX intends for future generations of the rocket to be capable of multiple liftoffs per day. SpaceX won't attempt to catch booster at launch pad with viral 'chopsticks' maneuver: Here's why In October 2024, SpaceX first pulled off a daring maneuver that has become a defining feature of its Starship flight tests: returning its super heavy booster to the launch pad. The feat, which involves catching the booster with giant mechanical arms known as chopsticks affixed to the launch tower, is one SpaceX has pulled off three times overall, including during the most two recent tests in 2025. But this time, retrieving the booster at the launch pad is not among SpaceX's objectives. Because Super Heavy is attempting "several flight experiments" that will provide data for future launches, SpaceX is opting to instead land the booster in the Gulf of Mexico, which the U.S. government has renamed the Gulf of America. That includes intentionally disabling one of the three center Raptor engines to assess backup engines during a landing. "To maximize the safety of launch infrastructure at Starbase, the Super Heavy booster will attempt these experiments while on a trajectory to an offshore landing point," SpaceX said. Starship to attempt Starlink deployment test SpaceX will take a third shot at a Starlink payload deployment test – a key capability for the vehicle in the future that was called off during both previous launches. The eight Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites, will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to burn up on reentry. Additionally, the company plans to once again reignite its Raptor engines in space to attempt an orbital burn – a crucial maneuver to one day bring a vehicle back to the ground.