SpaceX Launches Starship With Advanced Starlinks as Booster Fails Gulf Return
SpaceX launched Starship on another test flight Friday, sending the rocket from Starbase, Texas, with 20 advanced Starlink satellites aboard and ending the upper stage mission with a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
The flight was the 13th Starship test and the second this year using the newer V3 version. It followed a July 16 launch abort, when several Super Heavy booster engines failed to ignite. SpaceX replaced engines before trying again.
Friday’s mission delivered both progress and another reminder of what remains unfinished.
All 33 booster engines fired at liftoff, but the booster later failed to relight enough engines during its return attempt. It descended too quickly and hit the Gulf of Mexico. The Starship upper stage continued its flight, released the Starlink satellites about 124 miles above Earth and later made a controlled splashdown more than 10,000 miles from the launch site.
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The Starlink payload was a major part of the test. AP reported that the satellites communicated by laser with older Starlink models already in orbit. Some carried cameras to capture heat shield imagery as Starship returned through the atmosphere. SpaceX also used painted and instrumented heat shield tiles to test how the system responds under stress.
Social reaction centered on relief and technical optimism. SpaceX employees cheered during the webcast, Musk wrote on X that the company got the heat shield data it needed, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX while pointing to what could be learned from the mission.
The stakes extend beyond one test. NASA is monitoring Starship because the vehicle is tied to its Artemis moon landing plans. For SpaceX, the flight strengthens the case that Starship can carry larger Starlink payloads, but the booster failure shows the company still has to prove reliable recovery before the system can meet its full reusable launch ambitions.
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