SpaceX also ignited one of the Raptor engines in space, another key maneuver that will be required to move it out of Earth’s orbit during future missions.
SpaceX’s Starship took off, deployed mock satellites for the first time, and then splashed down into the ocean on Tuesday, ticking key mission goals in a much-awaited win for the Elon Musk-led company.
The 400-foot (122 meters) tall rocket launched from SpaceX’s South Texas site called Starbase at around 7.30 p.m. ET, and minutes later, its Super Heavy booster separated from the Starship spacecraft and dropped to the Gulf of Mexico for a controlled splashdown, instead of being caught by giant mechanical arms at the launch site.
Nearly half an hour after the launch, Starship, now moving through space, began deploying dummy Starlink satellites one by one, a key objective it had previously failed to achieve in May. Then the spacecraft re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and concluded the mission with an engine-guided landing in the Indian Ocean before erupting into a fireball.
“Great work by the SpaceX team!!” Musk wrote on X.
The giant vehicle is designed to replace SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rockets and is the centerpiece of Musk’s ambitions to send humans to Mars, with the goal of carrying NASA astronauts to the Moon by 2027. However, this year, the company has seen several high-profile failures.
Earlier this year, the FAA had grounded Starship test flights for nearly two months after back-to-back post-launch explosions caused debris to fall at Caribbean islands and forced dozens of commercial airliners to divert. Another launch in May was partially successful, but in June, Starship exploded during an engine test, which the company described as a “major anomaly.”
SpaceX is also facing intense competition from companies like Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, and United Launch Alliance, which are seeking to challenge the company’s dominance in the industry. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about Rocket Lab was in the ‘bullish’ territory at the time of writing.
SpaceX also ignited one of the Raptor engines in space, another key maneuver that will be required to move it out of Earth’s orbit during future missions. The firm also tested new heat shield technology, which will be crucial for the vehicle’s reuse.
“It’s been a year. Everybody that’s worked on this program, this is what we’re working for,” SpaceX’s communications manager Dan Huot said during a livestream.
The launch was originally scheduled for Sunday, and got delayed twice due to a technical failure and bad weather.
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