Closing summary
SpaceX successfully launched its sixth Starship test flight to space on Tuesday, but did not attempt the booster’s return to the launch site as was accomplished during a dramatic launch last month.
Donald Trump joined SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to watch the test launch from the control room in Brownsville, Texas, alongside with Senate members Bill Hagerty, Ted Cruz and Kevin Cramer.
After the rocket’s takeoff, it released its first-stage booster back to Earth. SpaceX waived the booster’s return to the launch site four minutes into the test flight, and opted instead for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. No reason was immediately given for the booster setback.
The Starship spacecraft splashed down successfully in the Indian Ocean, with video showing it exploding into a ball of fire as it hit the water. SpaceX will retrieve the stage for evaluation, but regardless of what it discovers, it will not consider its inability to capture the booster as a failure.
Key events
Starship splashes down in Indian Ocean
The Starship spacecraft has touched down in the Indian Ocean.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last month granted SpaceX a long-awaited license for the launch of Starship’s fifth test launch in October. That same license covers today’s sixth test flight.
The FAA’s regulation of commercial rocket launches has been a source of frustration for Elon Musk, and he has complained that the agency impedes his company’s progress in getting to Mars.
As we reported earlier, Donald Trump has said that Musk will co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency, a role that Musk said will allow him to rid the federal government of wasteful spending and regulations he has called burdensome.
SpaceX says it has ignited a Raptor engine in space
SpaceX says that Starship has successfully ignited one of its Raptor engines while in space for the first time.
This is one of the four core objectives for today’s test flight, according to Elon Musk.
SpaceX says that 30 minutes into Starship’s sixth flight test, “all systems continue to look nominal”.
Starship demonstrated its catch-landing method for the first time during the fifth test mission last month.
Before Tuesday’s launch, Elon Musk had said the catch-landing was expected to be “faster/harder” on social media.
However SpaceX aborted the planned catch-landing, opting instead for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
Musk on Tuesday listed four core objectives for the test flight, including restarting Starship’s space-tailored engine during flight – key for its in-space maneuverability – and making a more visible ocean landing during the daytime, as past attempts have been at night.
Starship continuing to coast in space
SpaceX’s Starship is currently in space and expected to return to Earth in less than 30 minutes.
As we reported earlier, the bottom half of Starship, the Super Heavy booster, was directed to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX decided to pass up catching the booster with giant mechanical arms about four minutes into the test flight for unspecified reasons.
Not all of the criteria for a booster catch had been met, so the flight director did not command the booster to return to the launch site, SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said.
Donald Trump has been pictured watching the launch of the sixth test flight of the SpaceX Starship rocket from the control room in Brownsville, Texas.
The US president-elect was seen listening as SpaceX CEO Elon Musk explained the operations before the rocket launch.
Super Heavy booster splashes down in Gulf of Mexico
SpaceX says it will not attempt to catch and return the Super Heavy rocket booster.
The company achieved a significant milestone last month by catching the booster stage from its Starship rocket in a pair of robotic arms as it fell back to the company’s launchpad.
The historic feat drew praise from astronauts and space experts.
SpaceX says the Super Heavy booster has shut down its 33 engines.
Liftoff: Starship launches from SpaceX’s launch pad
SpaceX has successfully launched the Starship on another test flight.
Richard Luscombe
The SpaceX website has a comprehensive look at the 397ft Starship, which it says is the world’s first “fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond”.
The versatile spacecraft is designed to ultimately carry up to 100 people on long-duration interplanetary flights, deliver satellites into space, carry cargo for a moonbase and act as a tanker to refuel other space vehicles heading for the lunar surface or Mars.
Each of Starship’s previous five test flights have launched from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica Beach, Texas.
The company is developing launchpads at Cape Canaveral, Florida, for future operations, beginning possibly next year.
Here are some pictures from the newswires of Elon Musk arriving at the site of the launch in Brownsville, Texas, with Donald Trump.
The weather is looking “fantastic” for the rocket launch, a SpaceX employee said.
“Light breeze, no clouds in the sky,” he said.
Beyond a return to the moon, Elon Musk is relying on Starship to be an integral part of his much more ambitious plan to get humans to Mars.
In September, the billionaire SpaceX founder revealed he was optimistic that the first astronauts could reach the red planet inside four years, and be living there in a self-sustaining city in 20.
Some observers say that’s an inconceivable timeline, while others see purpose in Musk’s assertions. Regular shuttle flights to Mars on Starship are absolutely achievable in the short to midterm future, they say.
A banana has been placed inside the Starship flight, SpaceX says.
“Today’s Starship flight test has a special payload onboard – a banana!” Starlink writes.
“This universally-accepted measurement of scale is approximately the size of one Starlink Mini.”
Responding to Donald Trump’s message wishing him good luck on today’s launch, Elon Musk replied on X:
Honored to have President Trump at our Starship launch!
