A damaged SpaceX Starship lands in the Indian Ocean, concluding the groundbreaking Flight 10 (video and picture evidence)
SpaceX's Starship Mars Rocket Successfully Completes Tenth Test Flight
Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX, has announced that the company aims to launch its first trial missions to Mars with the Starship megarocket as early as next year. The 10th test flight of this Mars-bound rocket took off from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on Tuesday evening (August 26).
During Flight 10, the Starship megarocket, designed to aid in human settlement on Mars, successfully completed its first splashdown of 2025. This marked a significant milestone for the spacecraft, as no previous Starship flight has managed to deploy a payload. For the first time, Starship deployed eight dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites.
The controlled splashdowns of the Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage occurred in the Gulf of Mexico and the Indian Ocean, respectively. The upper stage of Starship also re-ignited one of its Raptor engines during Flight 10, a feat achieved only once on a previous Starship flight.
SpaceX intentionally stacked the deck against Starship to give it a tougher test. According to SpaceX's Thursday X post, Starship completed maneuvers to intentionally stress its flaps, had visible damage to its aft skirt and flaps, and executed a flip and landing burn that placed it approximately 3 meters from its targeted splashdown point. Despite the damage, Starship powered through to finish its mission in style.
Newly released imagery shows that Starship suffered damage during its descent, with its belly appearing to have been toasted golden-brown by the heat of reentry. This is not the first time the Starship has shown resilience in the face of adversity. Previous flights have seen the rocket endure explosions and crashes, only to be rebuilt and flown again.
Elon Musk commented on the successful completion of Flight 10, emphasising the technical lessons learned from previous flights and the potential breakthrough for cost-effective Mars and Moon missions enabled by the Starship's design. The Starship megarocket is SpaceX's planned vehicle for Mars missions, with Musk stating that the company hopes to launch its first trial missions with the megarocket as early as next year.
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