SpaceX has conducted another test of the Starship spacecraft

STARBASE (USA) - US company SpaceX has conducted the eleventh flight test of its Starship spacecraft. The Super Heavy's first stage died as planned in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, with the ship itself then completing a 66-minute flight in the waves of the Indian Ocean. The current launch, as the media points out, marked the end of the era of the current generations of Super Heavy and Starship, so only new versions of these launchers and ships will fly into space.

"Water landing confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an amazing eleventh Starship flight test!" SpaceX wrote on the X network. During the flight, the spacecraft successfully ignited one of its Raptor engines.

The Super Heavy launch vehicle lifted off from the Starbase Spaceport in Texas at 18:23 local time on Monday (01:23 CEST today). After about three minutes of flight, the rocket's booster stage separated from the ship and after another four minutes, it disappeared into the Gulf of Mexico, where it made a simulated landing. Starship, whose flight lasted about 66 minutes, disappeared as planned in the Indian Ocean, into whose waters it made a simulated landing.

Starship flew to a so-called trans-atmospheric orbit with a maximum altitude of about 230 kilometres, failing to reach an orbit around the Earth, which was not planned. During the flight, the ship launched eight mock-up Starlink satellites.

CTK/gnews.cz-jav