SpaceX’s Starship has gone through a number of critical milestones in its development, surviving re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere and performing its first landing burn before splashing into the Indian Ocean. The Starship lifted off from the company’s Texas Starbase around 8:50 a.m. ET for its fourth flight test, aimed at demonstrating the reusability of the giant spacecraft and Super Heavy booster.
Minutes after takeoff, the Super Heavy separated from the Starship and successfully made a controlled landing to splash into the Gulf of Mexico as planned. The starship continued to fly for about an hour and re-entered a little after 45 minutes. Live footage from a camera on board in the last few minutes – About 33 miles above Earth, one of the craft’s wings began to burn. Then the camera cracked, obscuring the scene so that flashes of light from the plasma could be seen.
However, the ship managed to remain intact enough to continue sending data until the moment of landing. SpaceX confirmed the jump just before 10 a.m. ET. The test is a major success for SpaceX as it seeks to develop Starship as a transportation system that could take humans to the Moon and Mars.
