Friday’s test flight marks a major milestone for SpaceX as the company prepares to go public and participate in NASA projects. Artemis III mission in 2027
Screenshot/X
SpaceX launched the latest and greatest version of Spacecraft. Taking off around 6:30 p.m. EDT, the flight is the first test of Starship Version 3 (V3). This is the twelfth Starship test and the first demonstration of the rocket in seven months.
Fully stacked with its booster, the rocket stands 408 feet (124 meters) tall and offers 18 million pounds of thrust, making it the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built. The entire vehicle is designed to be reusable, but SpaceX is not attempting to recover the booster or rocket after this test.
At the start of the flight, one of the 33 engines did not ignite as expected, but it continued to climb. After a few minutes, the booster separated from Starship, falling back to Earth to crash into the Gulf of Mexico as planned a few minutes later. Starship continued, with one of its six engines also failing, a problem that SpaceX said could change the scope of the mission. Yet as it rose, screams and cheers could be heard from SpaceX’s ground crew.
On supporting science journalism
If you enjoy this article, please consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribe. By purchasing a subscription, you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
The test flight was intended to show that the Starship V3 can be successfully launched, separate from its booster and then crash into the Indian Ocean. Once separated from its booster, the spacecraft deployed 20 dummy Starlink Internet satellites to an altitude of approximately 195 kilometers, as well as two operational satellites designed to scan the Starship’s heat shield and send images back to Earth for further analysis.
This image shows a view of Starship in space, as seen by one of these satellites.
Screenshot/X
Reentry began approximately 47 minutes after takeoff. During this period, the spacecraft performed a series of landing maneuvers, including a flip. The landing was on target.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised SpaceX before the test flight, emphasizing Starship’s planned role in future Artemis missions aimed at returning astronauts to the Moon as soon as 2028. “We look forward to meeting you all in low Earth orbit,” Isaacman said, referring to the agency’s 2027 mission. Artemis IIIwhich will see NASA’s Orion crew capsule attempt to dock with (or both) a modified version of Starship and a Blue Moon spacecraft.
Certainly, NASA has a lot of work to do on SpaceX’s spacecraft. The 2027 Artemis III This mission is a stepping stone to NASA’s potential use of Starship to transport its astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon, with a landing planned as early as 2028. But the rocket is behind schedule: early tests ended in explosions and NASA’s watchdog, the Office of the Inspector Generalhas warned that SpaceX may not be able to deliver Starship in time for the agency’s upcoming Artemis missions.
This largely successful demonstration of SpaceX’s rocket is a feather in the company’s cap as it will be made public next month. Elon Musk’s company presents the spacecraft as a work tool that will significantly increase its orbital capacity in a single flight, up to 100 tons of cargo in its reusable configuration. The company hopes to use this capacity to expand its Starlink satellite internet service and ultimately build artificial intelligence data centers in space.
Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated.
It’s time to defend science
If you enjoyed this article, I would like to ask for your support. Scientific American has been defending science and industry for 180 years, and we are currently experiencing perhaps the most critical moment in these two centuries of history.
I was a Scientific American subscriber since the age of 12, and it helped shape the way I see the world. SciAm always educates and delights me, and inspires a sense of respect for our vast and magnificent universe. I hope this is the case for you too.
If you subscribe to Scientific Americanyou help ensure our coverage centers on meaningful research and discoveries; that we have the resources to account for decisions that threaten laboratories across the United States; and that we support budding and working scientists at a time when the value of science itself too often goes unrecognized.
In exchange, you receive essential information, captivating podcastsbrilliant infographics, newsletters not to be missedunmissable videos, stimulating gamesand the best writings and reports from the scientific world. You can even give someone a subscription.
There has never been a more important time for us to stand up and show why science matters. I hope you will support us in this mission.