SpaceX conducted its sixth flight test of the Starship system today, November 19, during a 30-minute window that opened at 4:00 p.m. CT. The launch, taking place from the company’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, marked another step in the development of SpaceX’s fully reusable spacecraft, designed to revolutionize access to space, and bring humanity to Mars.
Building on the successful fifth flight test, this sixth mission aimed to further validate SpaceX’s booster return capabilities and upper-stage performance. The Super Heavy booster, the powerful first stage of the system, was tasked for the second time with a return and catch attempt at the Starbase launch tower’s chopstick arms. However, this time the Super Heavy Booster didn’t carry out the maneuver.
Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/rSLQ2DDy63
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2024
Starship’s upper stage was expected to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere and splash down in the Indian Ocean after demonstrating an in-space engine burn with one of its Raptor engines. And so she did.
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Launch and booster splash down
The Super Heavy booster completed its ascent and separation as planned, delivering Starship’s upper stage on its intended trajectory.
Despite a nominal tower go for catch call, after the successful hot-stage separation and boostback burn, at T+04:14 mission control called the “off-shore divert”, meaning that the Super Heavy was no-go for catch and would have continued its descent toward the Gulf of Mexico.
Mission controllers at SpaceX’s facility closely monitored booster performance, with updated software controls and enhanced safety protocols, compared to the last flight. The return sequence involved the booster decelerating from supersonic speeds, which triggered sonic booms.
Super Heavy initiates its landing burn and softly splashes down in the Gulf of Mexico pic.twitter.com/BZ3Az4GssC
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2024
Nearly seven minutes after liftoff, the booster safely conducted the landing burn and splashed down on the surface of the sea. It then slowly leaned to one side before the live stream switched to the ship.
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Upper stage milestones and re-entry testing
Starship’s upper stage continued along its suborbital trajectory, completing a successful Raptor engine burn in space—a key step in validating its deorbit capabilities for future orbital missions. This was planned on a previous flight test, but an anomaly with the Ship’s attitude control prevented the burn from being executed, as onboard computers aborted the attempt.
At T+37:46 one of the Raptor engines ignited and rapidly shutted down, using the propellant from the Ship’s header tank. This maneuver not only demonstrated engine reliability in a space environment but also paved the way for critical data collection on how the system would handle prolonged operations beyond Earth’s atmosphere. SpaceX plans to further validate Raptor’s performance in orbit on future flights.
Starship’s Raptor engine burn is complete and Starship has entered a coast phase pic.twitter.com/xJHlg2eDTs
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2024
In its re-entry phase, the Starship tested an array of heat shield experiments designed to evaluate new thermal protection materials. Entire sections of heat shield tiles were intentionally left off to simulate potential hardware needed for future ship catches. The vehicle also entered at a higher angle of attack to stress the flaps and gather aerodynamic data vital for refining future re-entry and landing profiles.
Nearly 58 minutes into the flight, like during the fifth launch, one of the rear flaps showed light signs of damage, with visible plasma infiltration in its hinge. Unlike previous tests, thanks to the different re-entry angle, the Ship decelerated more quickly, reaching the subsonic speed at 20 km of altitude. Then it carried out the characteristic belly-flop maneuver, providing us with stunning images that somewhat recalled the suborbital tests.
Finally, at T+01:05:00 Starship softly touched down on the sea surface before banding over and exploding.
Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting sixth flight test of Starship! pic.twitter.com/bf98Va9qmL
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 19, 2024
Once again, SpaceX has the opportunity to gather vast amounts of data to further improve hardware and software development. Understanding the issue that led to the booster’s failed catch will also be important.
The sixth flight test’s results underscore SpaceX’s iterative approach. Implementing lessons learned “on the fly” with previous tests made the Starship’s program development unique, even compared to the company’s workhorse Falcon 9.
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The future? A new version of vehicles
SpaceX’s next Starship iteration, planned for the seventh test flight, will feature significant upgrades. These include redesigned forward flaps, larger propellant tanks, and a new generation of heat shield tiles paired with advanced secondary thermal protection layers. Such changes aim to bring the company closer to achieving full reusability for both the booster and upper stage.
The continued push towards a reliable, rapidly reusable launch system puts SpaceX in a position where they’re their own competitors. New generations of vehicles are being developed while previous generations are still yet to be flown.
Elon Musk’s ambition of smoother and faster regulations in the space field could become reality with the recent election of Donald Trump as the next US President, but it’s important to underly that multiple times it wasn’t the paperwork to hold Starship on the ground, but instead vehicle readiness and upgrades between flights.
This time around, took SpaceX 38 days to fly again a full stack after the previous flight, even with the license and paperwork already in the books.
*Cover image credits: SpaceX
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