SpaceX finally got Starship V3 off the ground Friday after scrubbing Thursday’s launch over a stubborn hydraulic pin on the launch tower. The twelfth flight test lifted off from Starbase, Texas at 5:30 p.m. CT, and for the most part it delivered.
All 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster lit up cleanly and hauled the 407-foot rocket over the Gulf of America. One engine shut down during ascent, but it didn’t matter much as the rocket held its course without skipping a beat. The booster’s boostback burn cut short earlier than planned though, and it ended up coming down hard in the Gulf rather than sticking a clean splashdown. Not a total win, but not a disaster either.
The upper stage fared better. Starship’s six Raptor engines fired up after separation and even with one vacuum engine calling it quits mid-flight, the spacecraft still made it to its intended path. Engine-out capability working exactly as advertised.
Once in orbit, the so-called “Pez dispenser” did its thing beautifully, deploying 20 mock Starlink satellites cleanly into space. SpaceX had the smart idea of putting cameras and lights on the last satellites to leave the bay, and the footage they captured of Starship hanging in orbit was genuinely stunning. One of those small creative decisions that ends up producing images people will remember.
On the way home, Starship gathered heat shield and structural data during reentry, then tested its rear flaps to their limits and ran through the banking trajectory it will use on future missions returning to Starbase. It finished the job with a landing flip and a two-engine burn, splashing down in the Indian Ocean right on cue.
“Congratulations @SpaceX team on an epic first Starship V3 launch & landing! You scored a goal for humanity,” said Elon Musk.
A booster that came down harder than planned keeps this from being a perfect flight, but between the clean upper stage performance, the satellite deployment, and those incredible views from orbit, this was a big step forward for the program.
Check out the video replay below:
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