SpaceX conducted another test flight of its massive Starship rocket on Monday, successfully completing half a global journey while deploying mock satellites as in the previous mission.The world’s largest and most powerful rocket, Starship, lifted off from Texas’s southern edge. The booster separated and entered the Gulf of Mexico in a controlled manner as intended, whilst the spacecraft travelled through space before landing in the Indian Ocean. No components were retrieved. “Hey, welcome back to Earth, Starship,” announced SpaceX’s Dan Huot to cheering staff. “What a day.”This marked the eleventh test flight of a full-scale Starship, which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk plans to utilise for Mars missions. Nasa has more urgent requirements, as the space agency requires the 403-foot (123-metre) reusable Starship to achieve lunar landings with astronauts by 2030.Musk noted that he watched from outside Launch Control for the first time, describing it as “much more visceral.”The successful August test flight followed a comparable trajectory with similar objectives. This mission incorporated additional manoeuvring, particularly for the spacecraft. SpaceX tested various entry procedures over the Indian Ocean as preparation for future launch site returns.As previously, Starship carried eight mock Starlink satellites. The mission, launching from Starbase near the Mexican border, lasted just over 60 minutes.Nasa’s acting administrator Sean Duffy commented via X: “Another major step toward landing Americans on the moon’s south pole.”SpaceX is adapting its Cape Canaveral facilities to support both Starship operations and the smaller Falcon rockets used for NASA’s International Space Station missions.
