SpaceX Starship Deploys Satellites in Space During Key Test

Starship Will Replace the Falcon 9 and Be the Sole SpaceX Rocket for Sending Satellites and Humans to Space

- Bloomberg

SpaceX's Starship rocket launched to space and deployed satellites for the first time before surviving most of its journey to Earth, achieving new technological milestones after a year of fiery setbacks.

The mission secured a much-needed win for the Elon Musk-led company after flight test struggles raised questions about whether Starship will be able to fulfill the billionaire's aims.

Advertised as the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, Starship is the centerpiece of the company's plans to loft huge batches of its Starlink internet satellites into Earth's orbit and carry humans to the moon and, eventually, Mars.

The vehicle lifted off from SpaceX's South Texas launch facility, called Starbase, at 6:30 pm local time on Tuesday. Its Super Heavy booster successfully separated from the Starship spacecraft as planned, and then splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Starship spacecraft then continued its journey through space and, about 20 minutes into the mission, began deploying a batch of dummy satellites that are similar in size and weight to the future Starlink satellites.