{"id":461,"date":"2026-05-25T23:10:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=461"},"modified":"2026-05-25T23:10:29","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T23:10:29","slug":"spacex-launches-its-biggest-most-beefed-up-starship-yet-on-a-test-flight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=461","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on a test flight"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>By <strong>MARCIA DUNN<\/strong>, Associated Press<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the moon.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=459\">State health officials probe E. coli outbreak linked to Kebab Shop<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The redesigned mega rocket made its debut two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he\u2019s taking the company public. It blasted off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 mock Starlink satellites that were released midway through the hourlong spaceflight that stretched halfway around the world.<\/p>\n<p>The spacecraft reached its final destination \u2014 the Indian Ocean \u2014 despite some engine trouble, before erupting in flames upon impact. That last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX.<\/p>\n<p>Musk called it \u201can epic\u201d launch and landing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou scored a goal for humanity,\u201d he told his team via X.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA\u2019s Artemis program.<\/p>\n<p>NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew in for the launch, saying Starship is now one step closer to the moon.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX\u2019s third-generation Starship \u2014 a souped-up version dubbed V3 \u2014 soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening\u2019s launch attempt.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames.<\/p>\n<p>There was no fireball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plummeted upright into the Indian Ocean under seemingly full control, then toppled over and ignited.<\/p>\n<p>While the liftoff itself went well, not all of the engines fired as the booster attempted a controlled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines, but kept heading eastward 120 miles up. A pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight \u2014 a remarkable first.<\/p>\n<div>\n<\/div>\n<p>At 407 feet, the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by several feet and packs more engine thrust.<\/p>\n<p>The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins for steering it back to Earth following liftoff, and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9 first-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything \u2014 more cameras and more navigation and computer power \u2014 as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=457\">Aer Lingus issued her voucher but ghosted her husband for over a year<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos.<\/p>\n<p>NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars \u2014 and also Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin \u2014 to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.<\/p>\n<p>The two companies are scrambling to be first.<\/p>\n<p>While Starship has reached the fringes of space on multiple flights lasting an hour at most, Bezos\u2019 Blue Moon has yet to lift off, although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year.<\/p>\n<p>NASA is following April\u2019s successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both.<\/p>\n<p>A moon landing by two astronauts \u2014 Artemis IV \u2014 could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready first. It will be NASA\u2019s first lunar landing with a crew since 1972\u2019s Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars on Starship.<\/p>\n<p>The world\u2019s first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up 3\u00bd years ago for a flight around the moon. The timing is uncertain.<\/p>\n<p>This week, another wealthy space tourist \u2014 Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang \u2014 announced he will fly to Mars on Starship\u2019s first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles.<\/p>\n<p>No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute\u2019s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=455\">Recipes: Make Mediterranean Salad in a Jar for easy lunches<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> NASA is counting on the mega rocket to land astronauts on the moon. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on a test flight - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=461\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SpaceX launches its biggest, most beefed-up Starship yet on a test flight - 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