SpaceX successfully launched its latest test of the mega-rocket Starship on Tuesday night, completing its first-ever deployment of a test payload, which included eight dummy satellites, into space. Just over an hour after coasting through space, the Starship splashed down as planned in the Indian Ocean.
Starship blasted off from Starbase, SpaceX's launch site in South Texas, just after 6:30 p.m. This was the tenth test flight for the world's largest and most powerful rocket, which SpaceX and NASA plan to use for future crewed missions to the moon.
NASA has ordered two Starships to land astronauts on the moon later this decade, and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's ultimate goal for the rocket is Mars. There were no crew members aboard this demo launch.
Return of the rocket's Super Heavy Booster
The test also included the successful return of the rocket's Super Heavy Booster, which splashed down in the Atlantic after completing a test of its landing-burn engine sequence. The Starship itself continued to orbit the Earth, passing from daylight in Texas through night and back into daytime before its planned splashdown. Before hitting the water, its engines fired, flipping the craft so it entered the ocean upright with the nose cone pointed upward.
A year of previous mishaps
This successful demonstration follows a year of previous mishaps. Back-to-back tests in January and March ended just minutes after liftoff, with wreckage falling into the ocean. The most recent test in May, the ninth attempt, ended when the spacecraft tumbled out of control and broke apart. SpaceX later redesigned the Super Heavy booster with larger and stronger fins for greater stability, according to a company post on the social platform X earlier this month.
The very first Starship exploded minutes into its inaugural test flight in 2023.
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