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.

The vehicle had coasted through space but was not in exactly the correct orbit after one of its engines malfunctioned during an initial burn. “I wouldn’t call it nominal orbital insertion,” company spokesperson Dan Huot said, adding however that it was “within bounds” of a previously analysed trajectory.

After the Super Heavy booster separated from the upper stage as expected, Huot said on the livestream that the booster failed to complete its so-called boost-back burn. The booster fell swiftly back to Earth, uncontrolled, into the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX wasn’t planning to retrieve the booster anyway, but was still hoping for a precision return. Musk applauded his team on X, calling the flight “epic.” “You scored a goal for humanity,” he said.

Friday’s flight followed an aborted trial one day prior. The countdown clock stopped and started until it was determined that the last-minute red flags could not be addressed in time.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2026