SpaceX’s Fourth Launch Hailed As A Hugely Successful Flight

Despite a flap burn-through that had observers on the edge of their seats, SpaceX’s fourth test flight of its megarocket is being hailed as a stunning success. SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted on his social media platform X (formerly Twitter), “Successful soft landing of the Starship Super Heavy rocket booster!”

The 400-foot-tall rocket launched this morning (June 6) at 8:50 a.m. EDT from its Starbase site near Boca Chica Beach in South Texas. Mission goals included bringing the first-stage booster (dubbed “Super Heavy”) back to Earth for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and a successful reentry for 165-foot upper stage (Starship, or simply “Ship”) and a soft landing in the Indian Ocean. Both goals were achieved.

The nail-biting centered on the Ship, as in-flight video showed the controlling flap’s heat shield burn away during reentry. But “the little flap that could” survived the intense heat and the stresses of the descent, enabling the Ship to “nail” its landing in the Indian Ocean.

During a live feed from company headquarters in Hawthorne, California, SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot reported, “This whole building was going absolutely insane. When we saw the booster hit the water, I mean, wow.”

According to the SpaceX website post, “We’re continuing to rapidly develop Starship, putting flight hardware in a flight environment to learn as quickly as possible as we build a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.”