VIDEO: SpaceX Just Fired Up a ‘Used’ Super Heavy Booster for the First Time

SpaceX has completed a successful static fire test of a previously flown Super Heavy booster ahead of 9th Starship flight. This marks a quiet milestone in its bid to make reusability routine across Starship’s first stage.

Unique Test of the Super Heavy Booster

Conducted at Starbase in Texas on 3 April, the test saw Booster 14 ignite 33 Raptor engines for around eight seconds while firmly bolted to the orbital launch mount. Twenty-nine of those engines have already flown once, making this the first time SpaceX has run a static fire on a “flight-proven” Super Heavy.

The same booster flew back in January during Starship’s Flight 7. On that mission, Super Heavy made it back to the pad and was caught by the tower’s chopsticks, a headline grabber at the time. The upper stage, however, disintegrated mid-flight less than ten minutes after launch, sending debris into the Atlantic.

Reuse Without A Round Trip

Unlike Falcon 9, which goes through lengthy overland travel and refurbishment between flights, Super Heavy remains on-site. The bulk and design of the vehicle make traditional transport inefficient. Lessons learned from Falcon 9 have been built into Super Heavy’s build, enabling a turnaround in under three months with no trucks or hangars required.

SpaceX says this is part of its move toward “zero-touch reflight”, a concept that would allow boosters to refly with minimal inspection or refurbishment. Booster 14 now looks to be the frontrunner for Flight 9, which is expected to repeat the same launch profile as Flights 7 and 8. That’s because the upper stage, referred to simply as “the ship”, has failed on both of those missions. On each occasion, the spacecraft broke up during descent after losing engine control roughly eight minutes into flight. Engineers believe stronger-than-expected vibrations led to a fire in the propulsion bay on Flight 7. A formal investigation into Flight 8 remains open.

Progress Below, Problems Above

While the booster appears to be maturing, Starship’s upper stage is proving more troublesome. The Block 2 design, introduced earlier this year, includes a new heat shield and other upgrades designed for controlled reentry. None of that hardware has yet been tested in actual descent, as both ships were lost before they could begin reentry over the Indian Ocean. These issues are more than technical snags they have knock-on effects for high-priority missions. NASA’s Artemis programme, which depends on a Moon-ready version of Starship, will require up to ten tanker launches to refuel a single lander in orbit. Any delays to reusability or orbital refuelling push that timeline out further. Elon Musk has already admitted the refuelling demo might not happen before 2026.

What’s Next?

The FAA has signed off on the investigation into the Flight 7 failure, and SpaceX has implemented 11 corrective actions. However, the ship assigned to Flight 9 hasn’t yet made it to the pad. It still needs engine tests of its own, followed by factory work before it’s stacked atop Booster 14. Whether the next mission will finally deliver a full flight profile, including reentry, remains to be seen. But the booster, at least, seems ready to fly.