CALIFORNIA, US – SpaceX’s Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle ever built, launched on Thursday, achieving key objectives that demonstrated the vehicle’s reusability.
This highly anticipated event marked the company’s second uncrewed test of 2024.
The launch took place from SpaceX’s private Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, at 7:50 a.m. CT (8:50 a.m. ET). The event was streamed live on X, formerly known as Twitter, drawing millions of viewers worldwide.
The Starship launch system consists of the upper Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy rocket booster.
During the launch, 32 out of the rocket’s 33 engines ignited, according to SpaceX’s broadcast.
“The SpaceX Starship launches during its fourth flight test with goals focused on ‘demonstrating the ability to return and reuse Starship and Super Heavy,'” stated the company.
The vehicle hit multiple milestones, including the survival of the Starship capsule during reentry and the successful splashdown of both the capsule and booster.
After separating from the spacecraft, the Super Heavy booster executed a landing burn and achieved a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about eight minutes post-launch. This marked the first successful splashdown for the Super Heavy booster.
Meanwhile, the Starship capsule successfully achieved orbital insertion. About 50 minutes into the flight, the spacecraft began its controlled reentry.
During this phase, viewers saw a colorful buildup of plasma around the vehicle as its heat shield faced the extreme temperatures of Earth’s atmosphere.
“Despite the loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean! Congratulations @SpaceX team on an epic achievement!!” posted SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk on X.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson also celebrated the flight on X, posting, “Congratulations @SpaceX on Starship’s successful test flight this morning! We are another step closer to returning humanity to the Moon through #Artemis—then looking onward to Mars.”
The successful reentry and splashdown of the Starship capsule represent significant progress for SpaceX’s goal of creating a fully reusable transportation system.
The vehicle is coated in about 18,000 lightweight, ceramic hexagonal tiles designed to protect it during reentry.
Initially scheduled for 7:20 a.m. CT (8:20 a.m. ET), the launch was delayed by 30 minutes due to a ground-side issue. The delay was handled by SpaceX’s “red team,” as reported during the livestream.
This test flight followed recent approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which licenses commercial rocket launches.
It also came a day after Boeing successfully launched the first crewed mission of its Starliner, under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
Each Starship test flight builds on previous lessons. For this fourth flight, SpaceX made software and hardware upgrades based on the third flight’s experiences.
“The fourth flight of Starship will aim to bring us closer to the rapidly reusable future on the horizon,” stated SpaceX. “We’re continuing to rapidly develop Starship, putting flight hardware in a flight environment to learn as quickly as possible as we build a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond.”
The first two attempts in 2023 to get Starship to orbital speeds ended in explosions. However, these failures provided valuable data for design improvements.
The nearly hour-long third test flight in March 2024 achieved several milestones before breaking apart after reentry.
For Thursday’s flight, SpaceX implemented changes to ensure booster engines would light correctly and added thrusters to prevent unplanned rolling, an issue from the third flight.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has emphasized that Starship is central to the company’s mission to put humans on Mars.
NASA has selected Starship for a critical role in its Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the Moon and establish a precedent for deep-space settlements.
Future missions will require propellant transfers and multiple refueling trips to support high-profile missions to the Moon and beyond.
The first astronaut landing under the Artemis program could occur as soon as September 2026.
