SpaceXs Starship completed its 13th flight test on Friday, lifting off from the companys Starbase facility in Texas and marking another major step in privately driven American space exploration.
The mission was the first Starship launch since last months IPO of SpaceXs Starlink unit, a market debut that briefly turned founder and CEO Elon Musk into a paper trillionaire before subsequent stock fluctuations pared back that milestone, according to RedState. It was also the second flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 configuration, but the first to carry and deploy the new-generation Starlink V3 satellites, underscoring Musks strategy of using Starship as the workhorse for a global, privately owned communications network.
Following liftoffLiftoff of Starship!the Super Heavy booster separated from the upper stage and engineers attempted to reignite its engines for a controlled landing burn over the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX reported that a subset of engines successfully relit before the booster experienced a hard splashdown, later posting, Super Heavy has splashed down in the Gulf of America!
The Starship upper stage, however, performed with increasing maturity, reaching its planned velocity and trajectory before completing payload operations. Starships ascent burn is complete and is now coasting through space, the company noted, followed by confirmation that Deployment of 20 @Starlink V3 satellites complete. Todays test will provide critical data as we prepare to expand our Starlink constellation.
SpaceX said it established communications with all 20 satellites and received full telemetry, even sharing the striking perspective of the vehicle from orbit: Starship as seen from Starlink satellites. One dramatic image showed Flight 13 passes by the MOON!!! ?? - @NASASpaceflight Coverage continues, a reminder that it is private enterprise, not bloated bureaucracy, now driving the most visually stunning advances in space.
Engineers also used the mission to refine Starships eventual return profile to Texas. Starship is executing a banking maneuver that mimics the final approach it would take when returning to Starbase for a catch on a future mission, SpaceX explained, as the vehicle steered with its four flaps toward a pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean.
After relighting all three Raptor engines, Starship performed a landing flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown, coming to rest intact and offering critical views of an intact heatshield for the first time. The company confirmed, Starship is intact, floating in the ocean and transmitting telemetry! and later released a highlight reel: Time-lapse of todays Starship flight, from liftoff to splashdown, in just 150 seconds. ??
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