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SpaceX’s Starship Flight 10 was a resounding success, meeting all major test flight objectives. The flight lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, at 6:30 pm local time. Both the booster and the ship successfully splashed down in their designated locations. This was a significant breakthrough for SpaceX, as they had struggled with the rocket’s upper stage ship throughout the year, either failing to achieve a suborbital trajectory or entering the Earth’s atmosphere uncontrollably.
SpaceX Meets All Test Objectives With Starship Flight 10 To Pave The Way For Quick Future Tests
After liftoff, all 33 engines on the Super Heavy booster lit up successfully. However, close to the minute-and-a-half mark, one engine failed and did not relight during the flight. Despite this minor anomaly, the booster met its flight objectives successfully. The engine failure was a brief issue in an otherwise highly successful mission.
During Starship Flight 10, the Super Heavy booster separated from the second stage ship, reignited its engines for a boost back and landing burn before splashing down in the Gulf. SpaceX’s presenter, Dan Huot, explained that they had relaxed the angle of attack condition on this flight, which likely contributed to the successful splashdown. In contrast, during Flight 9, the booster failed to splash down as SpaceX lost the rocket before it approached the water.
The upper stage Starship was the star of the show, with SpaceX conducting a series of tests including igniting a Raptor engine in space and launching Starlink simulator satellites. All three tests were successful. The ship successfully launched the satellites and ignited a Raptor engine in space for the second time.
These two tests marked a significant milestone as SpaceX had previously been unable to launch the satellites or ignite an engine on the second-generation upper stage. Following the engine ignition, the next test was of the heat shield during atmospheric reentry.
The heat shield is designed to be reusable, which would increase the rocket’s launch cadence. SpaceX intentionally stressed the ship by removing tiles from critical locations during reentry but managed a successful splashdown in the Indian Ocean despite one lower flap being damaged. The ship completed a flip maneuver using its four flaps before splashing down an hour and six minutes after liftoff for a fully successful test flight.
