Share this article Following the crash of the SN8 back in December, SpaceX looked to continue its quest to explore space with its latest SN9 prototype starship. Launching successfully from a Texas launch pad, the prototype rocket reached an altitude of over 32,000 feet. But upon re-entry, the latest starship from Elon Musk‘s private space-travel company experienced issues that caused it to crash into Earth in a fiery mess. Despite the failed landing, SpaceX engineers are still calling the launch of the SN9 prototype starship a success. “So all told, another great [flight] — and a reminder, this is a test flight, the second time we’ve launched starship in this configuration,” said Principal Integration Engineer John Insprucker. “We’ve got a lot of good data, and [achieved] the primary objective to demonstrate control of the vehicle and the subsonic re-entry.”