by Xinhua Writer Tan Jingjing
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- SpaceX successfully launched the 11th flight test of its giant Starship rocket on Monday, achieving all major objectives and hopefully bringing an end to the current vehicle generation.
Shortly after lifting off from SpaceX's Starbase facilities in the southern U.S. state of Texas at 6:23 p.m. local time (2323 GMT), Starship's upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster to continue its flight to space.
The Super Heavy booster then returned on a planned course to land in the Gulf of Mexico, testing a new engine configuration for the next-generation booster.
After reaching its planned trajectory, Starship successfully deployed eight Starlink simulator satellites designed to burn up during its re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere.
As it reentered the atmosphere, Starship gathered valuable data on heatshield performance under extreme stress conditions. SpaceX said its engineers had intentionally removed some heatshield tiles to evaluate specific reentry loads.
In the final minutes of flight, Starship executed a "dynamic banking maneuver" to simulate the return trajectory for future missions to Starbase, then performed a flip and landing burn to achieve a soft water landing after just over an hour of flight.
According to SpaceX, its focus now shifts to the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy, with multiple upgraded vehicles already under construction and preparing for tests.
Acting NASA administrator Sean Duffy said the test flight is "another major step toward landing Americans on the Moon's south pole."
NASA has selected Starship to carry astronauts on the final leg of the trip to the Moon during its Artemis III mission, which is currently scheduled for 2027.
However, CNN noted in a Tuesday report that SpaceX still "has a long way to go before the vehicle is ready to fly real satellites -- much less land NASA astronauts on the moon." ■
