SpaceX has successfully completed the eleventh orbital test flight of its Starship vehicle, achieving all primary objectives in a mission that marks a pivotal transition for the company’s deep-space ambitions. The massive rocket launched from Starbase in South Texas on Monday, October 13, embarking on an hour-long flight that concluded with a controlled splashdown of the upper stage in the Indian Ocean. The flight provided a wealth of data and demonstrated critical capabilities, solidifying the vehicle’s design ahead of a planned generational shift in hardware.
This mission served as the final flight for the second-generation Starship and the first-generation Super Heavy booster, closing a chapter of rapid, iterative testing. After a series of earlier tests this year that ended in vehicle failures, this flight and the preceding successful mission in August signal growing confidence in the system’s reliability. With every major objective met, SpaceX will now pivot its focus to the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy, which are designed for operational payload missions, including deploying satellites and supporting NASA’s lunar exploration goals.
A Step-by-Step Flight Profile
The test flight began at approximately 6:23 p.m. Central Time, when the Super Heavy booster ignited all 33 of its Raptor engines, lifting the towering vehicle off the launch pad. The initial ascent phase proceeded smoothly, culminating in the critical hot-staging maneuver where the Starship upper stage ignited its own engines before fully separating from the booster. This technique, now refined over several flights, allows for a more efficient transfer of momentum as the second stage continues its journey toward space.
Super Heavy’s Performance
Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster executed a precise boostback burn to reverse its course and begin its descent. It targeted a pre-planned splashdown zone in the Gulf of Mexico. During its return, the booster successfully ignited 12 of its 13 planned engines for the high-thrust portion of its unique landing burn, hovering briefly above the water before shutting down for a soft splashdown. While one engine did not relight during the boostback burn, the booster compensated and completed its objective, providing crucial data for future attempts at catching the booster with launch tower arms.
Starship’s Orbital Journey
After separating from the booster, the Starship upper stage completed a full-duration ascent burn with its six Raptor engines, achieving its planned trajectory. While in space, it successfully executed two key demonstrations. First, it deployed a set of eight Starlink satellite simulators, proving its capability as a payload delivery system. Second, it performed an in-space relight of a Raptor engine, a critical maneuver required for future deorbit burns and orbital adjustments on operational missions. This engine relight is a fundamental building block for the complex propellant transfer operations needed for missions to the Moon and Mars.
Reentry and Recovery Milestones
One of the most crucial phases of the flight was the atmospheric reentry, a punishing environment that tests the vehicle’s structural integrity and thermal protection system. The data gathered during this phase is essential for developing a fully reusable launch system. The vehicle guided itself using its four large flaps, maintaining stability as it descended through the upper atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.
Testing the Thermal Shield
During its descent, SpaceX intentionally stressed Starship’s heatshield to test the limits of its capabilities. The vehicle’s underside is covered with thousands of black ceramic tiles designed to dissipate the intense heat of reentry. A key success of this flight was the performance of these tiles, with early reports indicating no significant damage. This outcome is a major step toward rapid reusability, as it suggests the thermal protection system can withstand the extreme temperatures without requiring extensive refurbishment between flights.
Controlled Splashdown
In the final minutes of its flight, Starship executed a controlled banking maneuver. This S-curve flight path was designed to mimic the trajectory future missions will use when returning for a landing at Starbase, allowing engineers to collect valuable aerodynamic data. After surviving reentry, the vehicle performed a landing flip maneuver and ignited its engines for a final landing burn, decelerating to splash down softly in the Indian Ocean, concluding the hour-long mission.
Paving the Way for Next-Generation Hardware
The success of the 11th flight provides a fitting conclusion to the testing campaign for the second-generation Starship prototype. The company is already manufacturing and preparing to test its next-generation vehicles, which incorporate lessons learned from this and previous flights. The focus now shifts from demonstrating basic flight mechanics to preparing for full operational capability.
The End of an Era
This flight was the last for this version of the Starship and its accompanying booster. The second-generation vehicle served as a workhorse for testing fundamental capabilities such as ascent, hot-staging, reentry, and landing maneuvers. While earlier flights in the series experienced dramatic failures, they provided invaluable data that led to the back-to-back successes of the 10th and 11th flights, proving the company’s iterative design philosophy.
Introducing Version 3
The next generation, or Version 3, of Starship is expected to feature significant upgrades. These enhancements are anticipated to include larger propellant tanks, improved Raptor engines, and an increased payload capacity of up to 150 metric tons. This upgraded vehicle is the one SpaceX intends to use for its first true orbital flights, operational payload missions for customers, and the ambitious in-orbit propellant transfer demonstrations that are key to its long-term plans.
Broader Implications for Space Exploration
The steady progress of the Starship program has significant implications beyond SpaceX, most notably for its partnership with NASA. The success of these test flights is closely watched by the space agency, as Starship is a critical component of its plans to return humans to the lunar surface.
Supporting NASA’s Lunar Ambitions
Starship has been selected as the Human Landing System (HLS) for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to land astronauts on the Moon’s south pole by 2027. The successful completion of this test flight was hailed by NASA as a major step toward achieving that goal. Before Starship can carry crew, it must demonstrate an unprecedented level of reliability and complete a series of complex orbital refueling missions to fill its tanks for the journey to the Moon.
The Path to Reusability and Refueling
Ultimately, SpaceX’s goal is to make Starship a fully and rapidly reusable transportation system, capable of flying to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars. A core part of this vision involves orbital propellant depots, where multiple Starship tanker flights will refill a landed vehicle in orbit before it departs for deep space. The successful engine relight and controlled flight demonstrated in this mission are foundational steps toward making that architecture a reality, moving the company closer to its goal of making humanity multi-planetary.