The 13th test flight of "Starship," the super-heavy rocket being developed by U.S. space company SpaceX, concluded largely successfully. The Starship upper stage succeeded in test satellite deployment, atmospheric reentry, and ocean splashdown, but the first-stage booster "Super Heavy" fell into the sea faster than planned due to an engine reignition problem. This test flight was the first since SpaceX's initial public offering (IPO) last month.
According to major foreign media, SpaceX launched Starship from Starbase in Texas at around 5:50 p.m. Central Time on the 24th.
This flight was the second using the "V3 Starship," equipped with the new "Raptor 3" engines, following one on May 22 this year. It was the first time an actual functioning satellite was loaded as payload.
After the first-stage Super Heavy booster separated, the Starship upper stage continued its suborbital flight and deployed 20 new Starlink V3 test satellites at an altitude of about 200 kilometers. The satellites were designed not to settle into Earth orbit but to reenter the atmosphere and burn up.
SpaceX said it succeeded in communicating with the satellites and receiving data.
After flying for about an hour, the Starship upper stage splashed down in a vertical position in the Indian Ocean at around 11:57 p.m. on the 24th.
SpaceX officials assessed that this atmospheric reentry and ocean splashdown were the most stable and smoothest among the test flights conducted so far.
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, said on social media X, "Got all the heat shield data needed and then some," adding, "Ship is safe and floating in the ocean, transmitting telemetry."
Jared Isaacman, administrator of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), also said on X that he had high expectations for the information to be obtained from this mission.
However, during the Super Heavy booster's descent into the Gulf of Mexico after separation, some engines did not reignite sufficiently, causing it to reach the sea surface faster than planned.
SpaceX had originally planned to splash the booster into the sea without recovering it, but the booster test is assessed as a partial failure because deceleration was not sufficient.
Dan Huot, a SpaceX spokesperson, said during the live broadcast of the test flight, "We were aiming for a softer splashdown, but as you saw, it came in still quite fast."
The AP and Bloomberg reported that the necessary number of engines did not reignite. Reuters, citing graphics displayed on the live broadcast, reported that five engines failed to reignite.
According to CNN, all 33 engines of the Super Heavy booster ignited normally at launch, and 13 engines reignited as planned during the stage preparing for a controlled splashdown. The problem then occurred during the final deceleration process for splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
This launch was initially attempted on the 16th of this month but was automatically aborted due to the failure of some engines to ignite. It was then postponed to the 23rd before being delayed one more day as thick clouds formed under the influence of the tropical storm "Versa."
SpaceX has invested more than $15 billion (about 22 trillion won) in developing the V3 Starship so far. CEO Musk has stated that he will develop the V3 rocket to be fully reusable by the end of this year.
