SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket roared skyward for the ninth time on Tuesday, with the test flight delivering mixed results.
The upper-stage Starship spacecraft coasted for around 40 minutes before breaking up on reentry, a performance that beat the seventh and eighth tests when the vehicles broke up soon after stage separation. The first-stage Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, exploded on its descent, though SpaceX had said beforehand that this could happen as it was trying out a new system for the return flight that put extra pressure on the booster.
Tuesday’s test flight inspired NASA astronaut Don Pettit to share his two favorite shots of earlier Starship launches, captured from the unique perspective of the International Space Station (ISS) as it passed close to the launch site at an altitude of around 250 miles.
“My two best Starship photos from space station,” Pettit, whose most recent ISS stay lasted just over seven months before ending last month, wrote in a message on X. “Left shows flight 6 launch over Starbase. Right is the flight 8 exhaust trail and debris field after breakup in orbit.”
My two best Starship photos from space station.
Left shows flight 6 launch over Starbase. Right is the flight 8 exhaust trail and debris field after breakup in orbit. pic.twitter.com/ivqYcfCrjZ
— Don Pettit (@astro_Pettit) May 27, 2025
Commenting back in December about his photo of the sixth Starship launch, Pettit put it down to “dumb luck” for being in the right place at the right time, adding that if the launch had been delayed by 20 minutes, the ISS would have traveled far enough that he wouldn’t have been able to see the rocket lift off.
He said that once he realized that the ISS was going to be flying over SpaceX’s Starbase launch site, it was “just a question of knowing how to use your your photography equipment, which lens to use, what kind of shutter speeds, exposures, ISO, that kind of stuff.”
During his time in orbit, Pettit shared some amazing images, including this absolute stunner of the Betsiboka River estuary in Madagascar, and another showing Earth as you’ve never seen it before.
Want to see more of Pettit’s space-based work? Then check out this collection of his best images from his most recent ISS mission.
