SpaceX successfully launched its Super Heavy-Starship rocket on Thursday morning from Texas, in what was its third and most successful test yet.
The spaceflight company’s live stream had more than 1.5 million people “feeling the rumble” following liftoff at 8:25 a.m. CT, as the broadcast host announced.
“The third flight test aims to build on what we’ve learned from previous flights while attempting a number of ambitious objectives, including the successful ascent burn of both stages, opening and closing Starship’s payload door, a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage’s coast phase, the first ever re-light of a Raptor engine while in space, and a controlled reentry of Starship,” SpaceX wrote in a press kit about the launch.
Two previous test flights ended in explosions, resulting in a new trajectory for the launch that occurred on Thursday.
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“This new flight path enables us to attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns while maximizing public safety,” SpaceX said of the Starship, expected to splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Claps and cheers could be heard about a minute into the flight, right before SpaceX’s host said the tallest and most powerful rocket ever launched was “moving faster than the speed of sound.”
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Incredible onboard views could be seen from the spaceship’s cameras, and boosters were successfully making their way back to Earth about three minutes after liftoff.
“If Starship manages to make it all the way to reentry, we’ll collect valuable data on reentry at hypersonic speeds, or more than 5 times the speed of sound,” SpaceX posted to X.
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“This rapid, iterative development approach has been the basis for all of SpaceX’s major innovative advancements including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink,” SpaceX shared. “Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a full reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth obit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.”
Ultimately, SpaceX announced that they lost the ship upon re-entry, and that there would be no splashdown, despite what was otherwise Starship’s most successful test yet.