SpaceX has launched the upgraded third model of its Starship rocket for the primary time, although the check launch didn’t go completely for Elon Musk’s spaceflight firm.
The 407-foot rocket — essentially the most highly effective ever constructed — lifted off from SpaceX’s firm city Starbase, Texas, at 5:30 p.m. native time. Only a few minutes later, the higher stage ship separated from the Tremendous Heavy booster and continued on into house.
The booster pitched away from the Starship automobile and headed again to Earth, the place it was speculated to carry out a simulated touchdown within the Gulf of Mexico. However the booster’s engines didn’t correctly re-ignite for the sustained burn that’s meant to ship it again to the launch web site. The booster then tumbled all the way down to the water, the place it doubtless exploded.
Starship, in the meantime, misplaced considered one of its six Raptor engines because it ascended into house. But it surely efficiently deployed all 20 of the Starlink satellite tv for pc simulators together with two modified Starlink satellites meant to file footage of Starship’s exterior. Roughly one hour after liftoff, Starship simulated a touchdown within the Indian Ocean, earlier than tipping over and exploding as anticipated.
Whereas it didn’t go precisely in accordance with plan, this was an necessary check launch for SpaceX. It was the primary actual shakedown of the upgraded Starship V3 {hardware}, which has been in growth for months. The corporate was additionally testing out an all-new launchpad at Starbase that it’s been creating and constructing for years.
The check launch additionally comes at a historic inflection level for SpaceX as an organization. Its IPO filing was made public this week, and SpaceX is predicted to record on the Nasdaq in mid-June. The IPO is reportedly supposed to boost round $75 billion for SpaceX, which the corporate plans to make use of to gas additional growth, large AI ambitions, and to repay among the debt related to xAI and Musk’s social media firm X. (Which means this may be the final Starship check launch to occur and not using a inventory market response.)
SpaceX has spent years and billions of {dollars} creating Starship, which it sees as essential to its mission of constructing life multi-planetary. The corporate plans to make use of Starship for NASA missions to the moon, and finally Mars. However the massive job it must carry out within the near-term is delivering extra superior Starlink satellites to Earth orbit, as Starlink is the one worthwhile a part of SpaceX’s enterprise.
This was the primary Starship flight since October 2025. SpaceX had deliberate to try launching Starship V3 earlier, however one of many first upgraded boosters suffered an explosion throughout testing in November. SpaceX first tried the launch on Thursday however finally needed to delay it as a hydraulic pin on the launch tower arm refused to retract, in accordance with Musk.
This new model of Starship options SpaceX’s third-generation Raptor engines, which have extra thrust and a far less complicated design. The brand new booster is designed for sooner takeoffs and simpler catches by the launch tower.
This story has been up to date to incorporate details about Starship’s simulated touchdown.
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