SpaceX’s Starship rocket marked one of its most successful test flights yet on Wednesday, achieving a series of ambitious mission objectives before both stages executed planned crashes into the ocean.
While Super Heavy rocket conducted a planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the Starship crashed into the Indian Ocean.
The test marked steady progress toward building the world’s first fully reusable super-heavy launch system.
The launch took place from SpaceX’s Starbase site in Texas. Following liftoff, the Super Heavy booster cleanly separated and initiated its descent profile. In line with mission planning, the booster performed a controlled flip maneuver, multiple descent burns, and a guided splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
The performance demonstrated further refinement of booster recovery practices, which SpaceX ultimately aims to transition to precision tower catches in future tests.
Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage continued its near-orbital climb, successfully carrying out a Starlink “simulant” deployment test.
Instead of releasing operational satellites, SpaceX released mass simulants designed to replicate deployment dynamics. This exercise provided data on Starship’s ability to manage payload releases in microgravity—an essential step toward its primary role as a next-generation satellite launcher.
Perhaps most significant was a mid-flight relight of one of Starship’s Raptor engines while in space. This maneuver, crucial for future missions to the Moon and Mars, validated the rocket’s ability to restart engines reliably beyond Earth’s atmosphere, a requirement for orbital circularisation, trans-lunar injections, and controlled deorbit burns.
As the upper stage reentered the atmosphere, it endured high thermal and aerodynamic stresses, aided by improvements to its heat shield design.
The vehicle concluded the mission with a planned splashdown in the Indian Ocean, minimising risk to populated areas while providing engineers with post-flight data for further analysis.
The dual splashdowns of both Super Heavy and Starship capped a mission described by SpaceX as one of its most productive to date. The test pushed Starship closer to becoming a fully operational, reusable transportation system at the heart of SpaceX’s long-term vision.
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