SpaceX’s Starship rocket completed its tenth test flight Tuesday evening, achieving key objectives after previous setbacks. The successful mission addresses concerns about the rocket’s readiness for future lunar missions and satellite deployments.

The 403-foot vehicle launched from Starbase at 7:30 pm ET, powered by 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines. The Super Heavy booster successfully separated from the upper stage, called Starship, approximately three minutes after liftoff.

During descent, the Super Heavy booster tested a new maneuver involving switching to backup engines before a targeted splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The 232-foot-tall booster’s performance will provide valuable data for future scenarios involving engine failure.

The Starship upper stage reached space and, for the first time, opened its payload door to release eight Starlink mass-simulator satellites. SpaceX also successfully reignited a Raptor engine in space before the vehicle splashed down in the Indian Ocean, where it tipped over and exploded.

The Ship’s exterior endured extreme heat during atmospheric reentry, providing critical data on the upgraded thermal-protection system. SpaceX also conducted experiments, including removing tiles to assess the “skin’s” performance during reentry, and testing new metallic and actively cooled tiles.

Key Accomplishments

The upper stage completed the entire test, splashing down in the Indian Ocean while maintaining dialogue with SpaceX engineers. This addresses issues from the previous flight, where the Ship lost attitude control, preventing the payload doors from opening. Engineers appear to have resolved these problems.

The upper stage completed the entire test, splashing down in the Indian Ocean while maintaining communication with SpaceX engineers.

This successful test is a meaningful step forward for SpaceX, which aims to use Starship for crewed missions to Mars. While further technical milestones remain, this flight demonstrates considerable progress.