SpaceX launched its massive Starship rocket Friday evening from its company town and launch facility in Starbase, Texas, in a 13th test flight and the first since the company's record IPO last month:
The rocket's Super Heavy booster detached from the Starship spacecraft about two minutes into the flight, and made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf:
In a statement following the flight, SpaceX said the landing was not perfect as the booster "attempted to relight its engines for the landing burn," but only a subset successfully ignited:
The upper stage of the rocket made a "soft splashdown" in the Indian Ocean:
SpaceX designed Starship to be fully reusable and to lift more cargo for less cost into orbit:
About 18 minutes into Friday's test flight, SpaceX successfully deployed 20 of its new Starlink V3 satellites into orbit:
The new satellites, produced at a SpaceX facility in Redmond, Washington, are built to be larger and more powerful than Starlink's earlier satellites:
SpaceX is now developing Starmind satellites, which the company intends to launch:
SpaceX's stock has dropped in four of the past five weeks, slumping 43% from its peak close on June 16:
