Starship came home in one piece, and SpaceX finally got to look at an undamaged heatshield
The headline number from Starship’s 13th flight is not 20 satellites. It is one word in SpaceX’s own flight report: intact.
Starship lifted off from Starbase in Texas at 5:51pm on Friday, after delays and engine replacements pushed the attempt back. It was the second flight of the V3 vehicles. It was also the first completed launch since the company went public, The Register reported.
One hour, five minutes and 21 seconds later it was floating in the Indian Ocean in one piece.
Why intact is the story
Starship re-entered and gathered heatshield data. It then flew what SpaceX called “a dynamic banking move to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly”.
It steered to the target zone on its four flaps. Then it relit all three Raptor engines. It performed a landing flip and a landing burn, and settled softly onto the water.
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