For flight nine, the Super Heavy booster won't return to the launch site, but will instead splash down in the ocean. The Starship upper stage will attempt to deploy eight Starlink dummy satellites, and SpaceX is otherwise looking to this flight to test "several experiments focused on enabling Starship’s upper stage to return to the launch site."

Federal regulators gave SpaceX the green light for another test flight of Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever constructed, after mishaps earlier this year rained debris near populated islands.

This next flight marks a critical moment for SpaceX as the Elon Musk-led company attempts to get its Starship program back on track.