SpaceX launches Starship test flight, deploys next-generation Starlink satellites despite imperfect landing

SpaceX successfully launched its Starship on a test flight, deploying next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time. While the Super Heavy booster made a hard splashdown after an imperfect landing burn, the upper stage completed a successful soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

New Delhi: US aerospace company SpaceX launched its Starship vehicle in a test flight to validate technology central to CEO Elon Musk’s ambitions for Starlink expansion, as the company’s stock continues to slide.

The rocket’s Super Heavy booster detached from the Starship spacecraft nearly two minutes after the launch, and made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf. This was the second flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles and the first Starship flight to deploy the next generation Starlink V3 satellites.

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After the flight, SpaceX indicated that landing was not perfect as the booster “attempted to relight its engines for the landing burn,” but only a subset successfully ignited before the “hard splashdown.”

SpaceX informed that the upper stage of the rocket made a “soft splashdown” in the Indian Ocean, “coming to rest intact in the Indian Ocean and providing critical views of an intact heat shield for the first time.”

The Super Heavy booster lifted off from the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas at 5:51 pm local US time on Friday.

The booster ignited 33 Raptor engines and propelled the vehicle toward near‑orbital speeds before separating and splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. The company chose to refrain from attempting a midair catch of the booster on this mission.

The vehicle also reignited a single Raptor engine in an in-space demonstration of a core capability for future orbital missions, the company said.

The testing of this technology is crucial for Musk’s lunar missions and the setting up of large‑scale space infrastructure including the Starlink communications network. So far, the development pathways have faced sudden setbacks, malfunctions and delays.

The company had informed engine failure at liftoff during an aborted launch attempt last week. SpaceX shares dipped 2.68 per cent on Friday to $115.07 after its latest test flight.