SpaceX’s Starship program has executed exactly what the company needed
…3,2,1; Lift off: another successful mission
Photo courtesy of Jenny Hautmann/Wikimedia Commons
SpaceX has made history again, successfully catching its new rocket landing on Oct. 13, 2025. SpaceX launched the eleventh test flight of the Starship vehicle from its Starbase facility in Texas. Starbase houses SpaceX headquarters and its purpose is to manufacture, test, and launch Starship. It is “one of the world’s first commercial spaceports designed for orbital missions,” according to SpaceX.
Starship is the world’s most powerful rocket, and can carry 100 tons of payload. The SpaceX website detailed how the 124-meter Starship upper stage and boosters both executed controlled water splashdowns during the test. The launch and landing lasted about one hour and six minutes. This flight deployed eight satellites while successfully relighting one of its Raptor engines in space, as well as completing testing for future return trajectories. This is designed to return the vehicle back to a launch site through a multiple stage process which involves re-entry, dynamic banking maneuver, and a vertical landing.
The booster executed a controlled descent and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. In the upper stage, it performed a banking reentry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. 12 out of the 13 planned engines were ignited. The Starlink satellites help provide internet connections to people around the world.
This mission, “Version 2”, marks its final flight— prior missions’ launches were conducted this past January, March, and May respectively. Starship re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and data was gathered on the performance of its heatshield and a stress test of the limits of the vehicle. This vehicle mimicked the trajectory that future missions will undergo while flying and returning to Starbase.
Now, SpaceX plans to shift more focus onto building and testing “Version 3.” This mission will help in space refueling, and enhanced performance for future deep space missions. This successful mission is a major step towards supporting NASA’s Artemis moon-landing programme and future missions to Mars which remain to be scheduled for 2027. The new upgrades of Version 3 will include revised engine and stage architecture, docking adapters which would enable propellant transfer in orbit for Moon and Mars missions, and upgrades to the launch infrastructure. This updated version will most likely be able to reach orbit after a few suborbital test flights.
This vehicle is planned to deploy the next generation Starlink satellites that were tested on recent flights. The other portion of this mission is to “land humans on the Moon for the first time in more than 50 years” which is a part of NASA’s Artemis missions, also according to SpaceX Mars cargo missions do not plan to start until 2030, for research purposes, development, and missions.
Version 3 is expected to launch by the end of 2025 or in early 2026. There are expected delays in Starship due to “ground system issues,” as per Reuters. Although it is expected that the Artemis moon-landing mission will be scheduled for 2027, it will likely start in 2028 due to delays of SpaceX with Starship. The new projection is looking to be “cargo missions to the moon starting in 2028” and Mars will start in 2030. The goal of missions like these is to have frequent, reusable launches and to significantly reduce the cost of space access.