USA TODAY NETWORK Across its first 8 flight tests, which began in April 2023, Starship has yet to reach orbit – instead traveling at a lower-altitude on a suborbital trajectory. Starship's first 2 flight tests of 2025 have infamously been marred by unexpected explosions. Videos of the explosions went viral on social. Elon Musk and his commercial spaceflight company no doubt hope to get things back on track with the upcoming Starship flight 9, which the FAA has officially licensed. June 6, 2024: Starship completes first-ever successful landing burn The craft experienced a successful separation from the booster, which saw 32 of 33 engines igniting properly during launch, about seven minutes into the flight. The booster successfully came back down to Earth and splashed down in the Gulf as planned and all six of Starship's engines powered it into successful orbital insertion. Heat shields protecting the outside of the craft took a beating, with at least one throwing debris into one of the live-streaming external cameras, but it managed to make a successful re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Roughly one hour and six minutes into the flight, Starship completed its first-ever landing burn and splashed down into the Indian Ocean to raucous applause. March 14, 2024: Starship reaches space before being lost in atmosphere In the third test, the Starship succeeded in separating from the booster and proceeding to orbit within minutes of launching, where it conducted a series of in-flight tests while coasting through space. Video of its flight beamed back to Earth using SpaceX's Starlink Satellite network was able to capture the beginning of the spacecraft's re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. However, the signal was lost about an hour into the mission before SpaceX concluded that the craft likely broke apart. Despite Starship's failure to make its planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said the rocket still achieved several key milestones, including the successful firing of its 33 Raptor engines in the booster and the opening of a payload door. Nov. 18, 2023: Starship makes it further in second test, but still explodes During the second launch test of the Starship, the rocket survived for longer and achieved some milestones, but it still eventually exploded. The booster was able to successfully separate from the rocket, which reached space before the ground crew lost communication with it after nine minutes. Three minutes later, SpaceX lost both the booster and the spacecraft in two explosions. Rather than seeing it as a setback, SpaceX expressed optimism about the stage separation while saying the rest would just be valuable data to help them remedy whatever went wrong. April 20, 2023: Starship explodes minutes after inaugural launch