SpaceX carries out mostly successful Starship test flight

SpaceX sent its towering Starship rocket on a dramatic test run that ended with a controlled, fiery splashdown in the Indian Ocean, giving the company a largely successful outing for the latest version of its giant spacecraft.

The mission was not flawless, but the snags did little to dampen the mood. On the company livestream, SpaceX staff erupted in cheers after a flight seen as an important step forward as Elon Musk’s company moves toward what could be a record-setting initial public offering.

The huge rocket lifted off shortly after 5.30pm local time (11.30pm Irish time).

SpaceX had no plans to recover either the booster or the upper stage, and the final descent unfolded as intended, with a controlled but blazing splashdown.

The company’s main objective was to put a series of design changes to the test in real flight conditions.

During the mission, the third-generation Starship executed a maneuver in which it flipped upright and reignited its engines for control, even though one engine was no longer operating.

It also released 22 mock satellites, among them two designed to try to capture images of the spacecraft’s heat shield for further analysis.

The vehicle cruised through space, though it did not reach precisely the planned orbit after one engine malfunctioned during an earlier burn.

“I wouldn’t call it nominal orbital insertion,” company spokesperson Dan Huot said, adding however that it was “within bounds” of a previously analysed trajectory.

After the Super Heavy booster separated from the upper stage as planned, Huot said on the livestream that the booster did not complete its boost-back burn.

That left the booster plunging rapidly and without control back to Earth, where it fell into the Gulf of Mexico.

Although SpaceX had not intended to retrieve the booster, the company had hoped to guide it back with precision.

Mr Musk hailed the effort on X, describing the flight as “epic.”

“You scored a goal for humanity,” he said.

People watch the launch of SpaceX’s Starship 39 rocket launch from South Padre Island, Texas

‘Long way to go’

The launch came a day after an earlier test attempt was called off.

The countdown halted and resumed more than once before teams concluded the late-emerging issues could not be fixed in time.

Mr Musk soon wrote on X that “the hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract.”

SpaceX later said that problem had been resolved overnight.

The company is also under added attention after filing earlier this week with US financial regulators to go public, likely in June, in what is widely expected to be a record IPO.

The latest mission was Starship’s 12th test flight overall and its first in seven months.

The updated model is larger than the one before it, reaching just over 124m in height when fully stacked.

Much depends on the pace of that progress: SpaceX is working under a NASA contract to build a modified Starship that can serve as a lunar landing system.

NASA’s Artemis programme is intended to return humans to the Moon, while China presses ahead with a competing programme aimed at carrying out its first crewed lunar mission in 2030.

Clayton Swope, an aerospace expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told AFP that “the upgraded version of Starship did most of what SpaceX hoped it would do during the launch.”

But he also pointed out that a significant stretch of time had passed since the previous test flight.

NASA is targeting 2027 for an in-orbit rendezvous test involving its spacecraft and at least one lunar lander, technology both SpaceX and rival Blue Origin – the Jeff Bezos-owned firm – are racing to deliver.

That phase of Artemis is intended to pave the way for a crewed Moon landing before the end of 2028, and before the end of Donald Trump’s presidency.

But for Mr Swope, “there is a long way to go and many more test flights before Starship is ready for the next Artemis mission.”

Before the launch, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman appeared on SpaceX’s pre-launch programme and said: “We’re looking forward to seeing this fly, because hopefully at some point in the not-too-distant future we’re going to join up in Earth orbit.”

Afterward, Mr Isaacman praised the mission on X, congratulating SpaceX on “a hell of a V3 Starship launch.”

“One step closer to the Moon…one step closer to Mars,” the NASA official said.