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SpaceX schedules second Starship static fire after first test ends prematurely
Update: SpaceX appears to have plans for a second triple-Raptor static fire for Starship SN9 after the rocket’s first test was cut short for unknown reasons.
Identical to previous road closure windows, SpaceX will have an opportunity to test Starship SN9 from 8 am to 5 pm CST (UTC-6) on Friday, January 8th, potentially paving the way for a high-altitude launch attempt early next week if the second static fire goes as planned. Stay tuned for updates!
In what is likely one of the last steps before SpaceX’s next high-altitude Starship launch attempt, the company appeared to successfully put Starship serial number 9 (SN9) through its first triple-Raptor static fire test.
Relatively late into a test window that opened at 8 am CST (UTC-6) but was later pushed to noon, SpaceX’s first Starship SN9 static fire attempt began in earnest around 3:15 pm CST. Signified by venting activity at the propellant farm tasked with preparing and loading liquid oxygen and methane on Starships, slight tweaks in the test flow were observed but the static fire occurred more or less when expected at 4:07 pm.
SN9 ignited all three of its Raptors in quick succession and shut the engines down over the course of 1.5-2 seconds – extremely short relative to all previous nominal Starhopper or Starship-mounted Raptor static fires. Long-time followers immediately noted that small discrepancy, speculating that it could either have been a post-ignition abort or intentionally shortened to avoid damaging the pad’s concrete surface (an incident that’s occurred several times during recent tests).
Not long before the short static fire, SpaceX extended the end of its January 6th test window (in the form of road closure notices) from 5 pm to 8 pm. Oddly, rather than the expected response of detanking Starship and reopening the road after a successful test, SpaceX essentially recycled SN9 and began a separate test around 6 pm. The road was never reopened and a SpaceX team never headed back to the pad between the tests, implying that the company may have run into a minor hardware or software bug earlier in the day.
It’s unclear what the actual goal of the second attempt was and it’s more or less impossible to know for sure with confirmation from CEO Elon Musk. It’s possible – if unlikely – that the first static fire went exactly as planned and the follow-up test was meant to be a simple data-gathering wet dress rehearsal (WDR). Either way, after a surprise downpour briefly engulfed Starship SN9 minutes prior, the second test appeared to abort about 30 minutes into propellant conditioning and loading, precluding both a complete WDR and/or static fire.
According to a test notice received on January 6th by NASASpaceflight contributer and photographer Mary (bocachicagal), SpaceX has another test window available on January 7th in the event that Wednesday’s testing was partially unsuccessful. In a rare case, SpaceX’s hand-distributed warning for residents preceded any additional planned road closures, the last of which lifted on January 6th.
On January 5th, SpaceX received a trio of Temporary Flight Restrictions (TFRs) from the FAA that will allow the company to restrict access to nearby airspace for high-altitude Starship launch attempts on January 8th, 9th, and 10th. Lacking an unequivocally successful static fire, it’s highly unlikely – but not impossible – that Starship will be ready for a launch attempt during any of those three windows. Still, it’s safe to say that SN9 is probably less than a week away from its first flight – expected to be a carbon copy of SN8’s 12.5 km (7.8 mi) launch and landing attempt – if SpaceX can complete a full-duration static fire in the next day or two.
Investor's Corner
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
NASA’s Roman Space Telescope heads to orbit this August aboard SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy with massive scientific ambitions.
SpaceX is set to play a central role in one of NASA’s most anticipated science missions in years. The company’s Falcon Heavy rocket, currently the most powerful operational launch vehicle in the world, will carry the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope into orbit on August 30 from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Roman is now in final preparations inside the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility, where on June 26 technicians used a crane to lift the observatory into a specialized stand for fueling and pre-launch testing.
Roman is named after Nancy Grace Roman, NASA’s first chief of astronomy, whose career helped shape how the agency approaches space science.
NASA chose SpaceX Falcon Heavy because of Roman’s needs to reach a specific orbit far from Earth, well beyond where a standard Falcon 9 can deliver it. The Falcon Heavy, which first flew in 2018, has since become NASA’s go-to option for missions that need serious muscle without the cost and complexity of older launch systems.
Celebrating SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy Tesla Roadster launch, seven years later (Op-Ed)
Roman will carry a field of view at least 100 times wider than the Hubble Space Telescope, meaning it can photograph enormous swaths of the universe in a single shot rather than the narrow slices Hubble captures. That difference in scale is significant. While Hubble reshaped our understanding of the cosmos over 30 years, Roman is built to work faster and wider, surveying hundreds of millions of galaxies at once.
One of Roman’s most compelling capabilities is its potential to discover and photograph planets orbiting stars outside our solar system, and with enough precision to directly image planets that would otherwise be lost. That means scientists could study the atmosphere and surface characteristics of distant worlds rather than simply confirming they exist. Combined with Roman’s sweeping field of view, the telescope could detect thousands of exoplanets, and some of those planets may be in habitable zones where liquid water could exist. No telescope currently in operation has this level of power and capability. That capability alone could change what we know about other worlds, and perhaps finally answer the question: are we the only intelligent lifeforms in existence?
What Roman actually finds once it reaches orbit is an open question, and that is exactly what makes this launch worth watching.
Tesla has confirmed a crucial detail of its Miami Robotaxi launch, stating that the fleet is operating on an Unsupervised basis, joining a few other cities where company employees do not watch over the vehicles from inside.
Tesla’s Head of AI, Ashok Elluswamy, confirmed the detail on X, answering a highly speculated question about the Robotaxi Service in Miami, which was launched on June 3:
Unsupervised
— Ashok Elluswamy (@aelluswamy) July 3, 2026
The first launch of Robotaxi in Florida, Miami presents a unique opportunity for Tesla as it is operating the Unsupervised Robotaxi ride-hailing service in a major tourist hotspot in the Sunshine State. It also signals the suite will expand to other cities soon; many have requested Orlando, a heavy tourist spot with Disney and other resorts nearby, get access to the program soon as well.
Miami is getting a conservative rollout as well, just as Tesla has done with other cities. The initial geofence covers a compact 10–14 square mile zone in western Miami-Dade County, primarily West Miami extending toward Doral and Sweetwater. It is bounded roughly by SR-826 (Palmetto Expressway) to the north and US-41 (Tamiami Trail) to the south, excluding downtown Miami, Miami Beach, the airport, and most of Coral Gables.
Tesla has also been pretty slim on other details. For example, Tesla has not disclosed the exact fleet size, but field reports and license plate tracking indicate just two unsupervised Model Y vehicles were active on launch day, increasing to three within 48 hours.
According to The Road to Autonomy, a nearby staging lot near Miami International Airport holds dozens of Cybercabs alongside additional Model Y units, suggesting capacity for rapid scaling as demand and data collection grow.
The confirmation of Robotaxi being Unsupervised carries immense weight. It establishes that Tesla’s Miami Robotaxi operations run without human safety drivers or remote supervision, relying entirely on the company’s Full Self-Driving technology. Miami becomes the second major U.S. city after Austin to offer unsupervised Robotaxi rides from day one.
The move reflects rapid progress in Tesla’s AI efforts. Neural networks trained on vast real-world data now handle complex urban environments, including South Florida’s heavy traffic, pedestrians, and rainy conditions. Industry observers see it as validation of Tesla’s vision-centric, data-driven approach versus traditional rule-based systems; a truly unorthodox approach in this day and age.
Challenges remain, including regulatory oversight, public trust, and scaling the fleet to match geofence ambitions. Miami’s small initial footprint and limited vehicles highlight a deliberate, measured expansion strategy focused on safety and data gathering.
Nevertheless, the unsupervised confirmation marks a pivotal milestone. It showcases technical readiness and advances Tesla’s vision of transforming vehicles into autonomous revenue generators while reshaping urban mobility. For Miami users, driverless transportation has moved from concept to reality.
A California radiologist who drove his Tesla Model Y off a 250-foot cliff in an attempt to kill his family has had his charges dismissed after doctors say he is “doing well” in a mental health program.
Dharmesh Patel was charged with three counts of attempted murder in connection with a January 2023 crash where he drove his Tesla off a cliff, injuring his wife and two children, aged 7 and 4 at the time.
Patel drove the Tesla off Devil’s Slide in California, an area that is extremely rough to the point that investigators and rescuers expected the worst when arriving at the scene for the first time. Patel supposedly had schizoaffective disorder, according to Deputy District Attorney Dominique Davis.
Shockingly, Patel’s wife, who was in the vehicle, testified that she did not want her husband to be prosecuted, noting that their children missed their father and they wanted him to come back home. Patel’s attorney argued, “not everyone who commits a crime is a criminal.”
Doctor who took Tesla off cliff gets support from unlikely person
A three-day trial in Mental Health Diversion Court ruled in Patel’s favor, which kept him out of jail and instead on house arrest. He was admitted to a Mental Health Diversion Program, which he successfully completed, the Associated Press reported. San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said the judge was “required by law” to dismiss the charges:
“If the person who’s given mental health diversion follows the treatment plan, there’s nothing that can be done, and at the end of the two years he gets it wiped out of his record.”
Wagstaffe said he has argued, along with other DAs in California, to have attempted murder removed from the list of charges eligible to be dismissed due to mental health diversion programs.
Patel had the charges officially dismissed on Monday; his wife waited for him as he left court and they departed the building together, according to Mercury News. Patel surrendered his California medical license in December.
The crash has been one of the best examples of Tesla’s incredible engineering, which has saved four lives in this particular instance. The car was totalled but kept the four human beings alive and safe, which is something that many referred to as “an absolute miracle.”
NASA taps SpaceX to launch the telescope that could unlock new worlds
Tesla confirms crucial detail of Miami Robotaxi launch
