Overview
- SpaceX launched the 13th integrated Starship test flight and the upper‑stage spacecraft made a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean while remaining intact and transmitting telemetry and heat‑shield images.
- The mission deployed 20 next‑generation Starlink V3 satellites on a suborbital trajectory that transmitted imagery before burning up as planned during reentry.
- Operators confirmed an in‑space relight of a Raptor engine on the upper stage, which provided proof of a key maneuver needed for future orbital missions.
- The Super Heavy booster fired all 33 engines at liftoff but failed to relight enough engines for the planned landing burn and suffered a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, leaving engineers and regulators to analyze telemetry.
- The flight advances reentry and payload‑deployment testing that NASA and SpaceX need for future Artemis and Starlink plans but keeps booster restart reliability and recovery timelines under close scrutiny from engineers and investors.