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RobotRiskStarfish Space › 12 Jun 2023

Spinning spacecraft adds unwelcome twist to Starfish Space's docking test mission

S4 · 12 Jun 2023 · Starfish Space

Record

CompanyStarfish Space
IndustryDefense / space
Type(s)mission-loss
Date12 Jun 2023 (day precision)
Time of daynot documented
Locationno physical site (recall / fleet-wide / aggregate record)
Severity (serious injury, total loss, or grounding)
Scale1 spacecraft (Otter Pup / LEO Pathfinder)
Confidencemedium
Verified flagYes - independently re-checked against the cited source

Summary

Starfish Space's Otter Pup demonstration spacecraft (LEO Pathfinder mission) began uncontrollably spinning shortly after deployment, consuming propellant and forcing the company to abandon its planned autonomous docking demonstration.

Primary source

GeekWire

Publisher: GeekWire · Retrieved: 2026-09-16

Supporting source rows (1)
DateSupporting source rowPublisherLink
12 Jun 2023 Spinning spacecraft adds unwelcome twist to Starfish Space's docking test mission GeekWire GeekWire

Defense / space context

mission-loss context

Starfish Space industry position

Related incidents

Other Starfish Space entries

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