SpaceX’s Starship Finally Launches For Test Flight After Years Of Setbacks

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship rocket achieved a big milestone on Tuesday as it successfully carried out its tenth test flight, deploying mock Starlink satellites and trialing new heat shield tiles during reentry.

According to Reuters, the 403-foot-tall rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase site in Texas. Its massive Super Heavy booster separated three minutes into the flight, sending the Starship upper stage into space. About half an hour later, the spacecraft released eight dummy Starlink satellites using a new “Pez-like” dispenser system. This was the first time Starship demonstrated satellite deployment, a crucial milestone for SpaceX’s future plans.

Roughly an hour into the mission, Starship reentered Earth’s atmosphere over the Indian Ocean, testing hexagonal heat shield tiles designed to withstand extreme temperatures with minimal refurbishment. Elon Musk has called the reusable heat shield one of the hardest challenges in rocket development.

The flight ended with a controlled landing on the ocean west of Australia, before Starship toppled and exploded, as expected. Despite the fiery end, the mission was considered a success, showing progress after earlier failures that ended much sooner in flight.

NASA, which has chosen Starship to land astronauts on the Moon under its Artemis program, praised the test. Acting Administrator Sean Duffy said the mission “paves the way” for the Artemis III landing, targeted for 2027.

Much is riding on Starship’s success. Musk wants it to power Mars missions and replace Falcon 9 for deploying larger batches of Starlink satellites, a key revenue source. While many technical challenges remain, Tuesday’s flight proved SpaceX is edging closer to making its fully reusable deep-space rocket a reality.

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