- SpaceX completed the eleventh test flight of its Starship rocket from Texas on Monday.
- The launch was the final flight for the second-generation Starship and the first-generation Super Heavy booster.
- The booster separated, hovered, and performed a controlled splashdown; Starship successfully re-entered the atmosphere.
- Starship deployed mock satellites, relit a Raptor engine, and achieved a soft landing before a fireball occurred during heat shield testing.
- Further upgrades are needed for future lunar missions, including orbital refueling capabilities, before carrying astronauts.
SpaceX launched its eleventh Starship test flight from the Starbase facility in Texas, approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Brownsville, at 7:23 p.m. ET on Monday. This mission aimed to advance preparations for sending astronauts to the moon in the coming years.
The flight used the second-generation Starship spacecraft and the original Super Heavy booster, which will now be retired as the company moves to an upgraded design. During the test, the booster separated from Starship less than 10 minutes after launch, reignited its engines, and hovered over water before a controlled descent and splashdown.
The Starship vehicle performed several key maneuvers, including deploying mock Starlink satellites and reigniting a Raptor engine to demonstrate deorbit burning. It re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and made a landing flip and soft ocean splashdown near the Indian Ocean. The vehicle then erupted in a fireball while engineers tested the heat shields.
Elon Musk congratulated the team on the platform X, posting: “Great work.” NASA administrator Sean Duffy also praised the mission, calling it “another major step toward landing Americans on the Moon’s south pole.”
After several costly failures earlier this year, Monday’s largely successful flight marks progress for SpaceX and could help address concerns about its readiness for the 2027 lunar mission. The last American crewed moon landing occurred in 1972, and renewed U.S. efforts aim to stay ahead of China‘s own lunar ambitions targeting 2030.
Before conducting manned missions to the moon, Starship must be upgraded, including changes to its docking adapters to allow for orbital refueling—this involves two Starships connecting in space to transfer propellant. Former NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine noted at a Senate hearing that the complexity of Starship makes it “highly unlikely that we will land on the moon before China.”
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