SpaceX Starship Flight 10 launch; booster lands; satellites deployed

SpaceX successfully launched and largely met the objectives of the 10th test flight of its Starship rocket on Tuesday evening, sending the upper-stage vehicle into space from the companys Starbase facility in South Texas and returning the Super Heavy booster to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico while the upper stage deployed eight test satellites and later splashed down in the Indian Ocean. Liftoff occurred at about 6:30 p.m. Central Time, roughly 7:30 p.m. Eastern, following two scrubbed attempts over the preceding days after a ground-system leak and weather concerns, SpaceX said.

The 403-foot Starship system climbed on the combined power of 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster and six on the upper stage. About three minutes after liftoff the stages separated cleanly. The booster executed a sequence of descent maneuvers, intentionally testing landing procedures while shutting down primary landing engines and switching to backups, then made a targeted water landing in the Gulf, SpaceX said. Some outlets described the splashdown as occurring in the Atlantic; officials and company commentary most frequently identified the Gulf of Mexico as the recovery zone.