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SOUTH ISLAND: SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft splashed down into the Indian Ocean after the company performed a mostly successful test flight of the latest version of its enormous rocket.
The voyage was not without a few glitches, but SpaceX employees shown on a livestream roared in delight following the trial flight that comes as the firm owned by Elon Musk prepares a potentially record initial public offering. The mammoth rocket blasted off into space at just after 5:30pm local time.
The company did not intend to recover the booster or the upper stage, and the final splashdown was fiery but controlled, as planned. “Splashdown confirmed!” the company wrote on X. SpaceX primarily aimed to demonstrate its redesigns in flight.
The third-generation Starship spacecraft carried out a maneuver that saw it flip upright and reignite its engines for control, despite one being out of commission. It also deployed its 22 mock satellites, including two that attempted to photograph the spacecraft’s heat shield for analysis.
