SpaceX launches 11th test flight of its mega Starship rocket with another win
SMRTR summary
Elon Musk stepped outside Launch Control for the first time to watch his creation thunder into the Texas sky, calling the experience "much more visceral" as SpaceX's colossal Starship rocket embarked on its 11th test flight Monday.
The 403-foot behemoth — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — successfully completed a journey halfway around the world, releasing mock satellites before splashing down in the Indian Ocean. The booster made a controlled entry into the Gulf of Mexico as planned.
"Hey, welcome back to Earth, Starship," SpaceX's Dan Huot announced to cheering employees. "What a day."
This test flight followed the same path as August's successful mission, which came after a string of explosive failures. But this time, SpaceX built in more maneuvering, especially for the spacecraft during its Indian Ocean entry — practice for future landings back at the launch site.
The stakes are enormous. NASA cannot land astronauts on the moon by decade's end without Starship, the reusable vehicle designed to ferry them from lunar orbit to the surface and back.
NASA's acting administrator Sean Duffy called it "another major step toward landing Americans on the moon's south pole."
SMRTR provides this summary for quick context. The original article belongs to NPR.
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