SpaceX Starship V3's first test flight was largely successful

The launch vehicle lost some engines, but it was still able to achieve most of its goals.

By Mariella Moon
A rocket launching into the air. SpaceX

SpaceX has flown Starship V3 for the first time in a test flight that met most of its goals. The company had to step down from a launch attempt on the evening of May 21, Thursday, due to a technical issue. Specifically, a hydraulic pin holding the spacecraft's tower arm in place would not retract. But on Friday night, nothing prevented SpaceX from launching the upgraded version of its spacecraft designed for journeys to the moon and Mars. 

The launch vehicle ignited all 33 of its Super Heavy booster's new Raptor 3 engines and then lifted off at 6:30PM Eastern time from Starbase, Texas. During ascent, one of the booster's engines shut down, but Starship continued its flight until it was time for the stages to separate. The booster was able to perform a directional flip maneuver, which the company wanted to test for future missions. However, it was unable to light all the engines needed to perform a successful boostback burn, the other maneuver necessary for the rocket to be able to travel back towards its landing site. 

It was only able to do a partial boostback burn before falling back to Earth and crashing down into the Gulf of Mexico (renamed the Gulf of America in 2025 by President Donald Trump). It wasn't a loss, however: SpaceX had been catching Super Heavy boosters with its launch tower's mechanical arms in previous flights, but it never intended to recover this one. 

Meanwhile, the upper-stage Ship was still able to achieve its planned trajectory despite losing one of six Raptor 3 engines. Around 30 minutes after liftoff, it deployed the 20 Starlink simulators and two modified Starlink satellites it was carrying. The modified satellites, which were on the same suborbital trajectory as the upper stage, took images of Ship in space.

When Ship re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, it gathered data on the performance of its heat shield during the burn. Finally, it pulled off maneuvers SpaceX wanted it to do to stress test its rear flap and to mimic the trajectory of future missions returning to their launch site. After a landing flip and a landing burn on two Raptor engines, it splashed down and exploded in the Indian Ocean.

Despite the engine failures, SpaceX chief Elon Musk congratulated his team "on an epic first Starship V3 launch and landing," telling them they "scored a goal for humanity." SpaceX managed to pull a largely successful test flight, just in time for its IPO. The company just publicly filed its IPO paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Reuters said its shares are expected to start trading on June 12.  

Recommended