PREVIEW

SpaceX's Starship Hits Milestones With First Satellite Deployment and Heat Shield Test. SpaceX’s Starship rocket notched major wins in its tenth test flight on Tuesday, deploying mock Starlink satellites for the first time and trialing new heat shield tiles during reentry. The 403-foot rocket lifted off from Starbase in Texas, separating smoothly from its Super Heavy booster. About half an hour later, it released eight dummy satellites, a key step toward future missions. Roughly an hour in, Starship endured a blazing reentry over the Indian Ocean putting its reusable heat shield to the test — a challenge Elon Musk calls the biggest hurdle to making the system fully reusable. The mission ended with a planned ocean landing near Australia, followed by an explosion, which SpaceX expected. Still, NASA hailed the flight as progress toward Artemis III, the mission that aims to return astronauts to the Moon. Starship is central to Musk's Mars ambitions and to expanding the Starlink network — making this test flight a crucial step forward.
Instructions: THIS VIDEO MUST NOT BE EDITED FOR LENGTH TO COMBINE WITH OTHER CONTENT