Starship survives reentry on 4th flight test from Texas, SpaceX says

BOCA CHICA, Texas – SpaceX on Thursday morning conducted the fourth flight test of its gargantuan Starship launch vehicle in Texas.

Liftoff occurred at 8:50 EDT from Starbase, located near Boca Chica. Weather conditions were 95% favorable for the launch, according to SpaceX’s social media.

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Starship’s third flight test in March sent the reflective rocket soaring across the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX lost contact with Starship 49 minutes into the flight test as it neared splashdown in the Indian Ocean, which was its ultimate goal.

The launch vehicle’s booster — though it seamlessly separated from the spacecraft — plummeted into the Gulf while Starship went on to reach an altitude of some 145 miles. The two previous flight tests ended in explosions, though SpaceX has said each endeavor completed major milestones and led to invaluable data.

Thursday’s flight test was set to take a similar trajectory to the third, as SpaceX sought to land Starship in the Indian Ocean via splashdown.

SpaceX said in a statement that the fourth flight test’s focus would turn from achieving orbit to demonstrating the ability for Starship and its Super Heavy booster to return to Earth and be reused. Primary objectives included executing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf for the booster, as well as a controlled entry of Starship, according to SpaceX.

To accomplish this, several software and hardware upgrades have been made to increase overall reliability and address lessons learned from Flight 3. The SpaceX team will also implement operational changes, including the jettison of the Super Heavy’s hot-stage following boostback to reduce booster mass for the final phase of flight.

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This flight path does not require a deorbit burn for reentry, maximizing public safety while still providing the opportunity to meet our primary objective of a controlled Starship reentry.

The fourth flight of Starship will aim to bring us closer to the rapidly reusable future on the horizon. 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.

STARSHIP'S FOURTH FLIGHT TEST | SpaceX.com (excerpt)

Mic’d-up SpaceX employees could be heard cheering as the Super Heavy booster jettisoned away from Starship and completed its splashdown, slowing its descent and hovering upright above the Gulf before toppling over into the water.

The spacecraft itself continued coasting high above the planet. Visuals from Starship went down during this time as it flew toward its own splashdown spot in the eastern Indian Ocean, with a fin-flanked view of Earth’s horizon set against the darkness of space returning via Starlink about half an hour after signal loss.

Starship’s heat-resistant hull started glowing with plasma as reentry began, occurring around 45 minutes into the flight test. The SpaceX crowd erupted in reaction to seeing Starship attempt to survive reentry. On-board views showed at least one of the articulated flaps disintegrating in the high heat while a camera lens became increasingly dirtied with debris, then cracked.

Live views became spotty, an obscured feed going in and out as the spacecraft neared splashdown. Commentators on the SpaceX broadcast reported that the data indicated Starship was slowing as planned, becoming subsonic around an hour and four minutes after launch as flashes of light from the on-board cameras suggested life from the fried flaps, causing SpaceX staff to keep cheering.

Following final signal loss, it was declared that Starship survived reentry, completing its planned landing burn and splashdown.

Watch the launch again in the video player below.

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