SpaceX's 10th Starship test flight meets all major objectives

SpaceX successfully launched the 10th flight test of its giant Starship rocket on Tuesday, taking a significant step forward in developing the world's first fully reusable launch vehicle.

The two-stage vehicle lifted off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Texas at about 6:30 p.m. Central Time (2330 GMT) after two days of delays caused by weather and technical issues.

Shortly after liftoff, the Super Heavy booster performed a boostback burn for a controlled descent and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico as planned.

Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage ignited its Raptor engines during hot-staging separation, completed an ascent burn, and entered a planned coast phase.

About 18 minutes into the flight, SpaceX demonstrated Starship's payload deployment capability for the first time, releasing a set of Starlink simulator satellites that followed the same suborbital trajectory and burned up upon reentry.

In space, Starship successfully reignited one of its Raptor engines, a key capability for future deorbit burns.

Starship then began its controlled reentry, using four flaps for control before executing a landing flip and a final burn for a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, just over an hour after launch.

SpaceX said the flight test met all of its major objectives, including multiple reentry experiments designed to return the upper stage to the launch site for catch, and gathering data on heat shield and structural performance during the critical reentry phase.

The results will provide critical data to inform designs of the next-generation Starship and Super Heavy, said SpaceX.

SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively referred to as Starship, represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.

NASA has selected Starship to carry astronauts on the final leg of the trip to the moon during its Artemis III mission, which is currently scheduled for 2027.