"SpaceX has pulled off another successful test flight of Starship, the world's largest and most powerful rocket. This was the eleventh test flight for Starship, which is meant to be the first-ever fully reusable spaceflight system in history, consisting of a Super Heavy first-stage booster and an upper-stage ship that can carry cargo or even crew. It was also the program's last test flight in a problem-plagued 2025: Prior to the successful 10th flight on August 26,"
"Launching at 6:23 P.M. CDT from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas on the combined nearly 17 million pounds of thrust from 33 Raptor engines, Flight 11 aimed to mostly replicate the feats of Flight 10. After throwing the ship on a long suborbital trajectory, the booster would somersault and fire some of its engines to steer itself back to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico."
SpaceX's Starship completed its eleventh test flight, marking another successful demonstration of the world's largest and most powerful rocket. The system combines a Super Heavy first-stage booster with an upper-stage ship capable of carrying cargo or crew and is intended to be fully reusable. Earlier in 2025 three back-to-back explosive test failures had raised feasibility and NASA-dependence concerns, but Flight 10 on August 26 and Flight 11 restored momentum. Launching from Starbase in South Texas on roughly 17 million pounds of thrust from 33 Raptor engines, Flight 11 replicated Flight 10's profile, testing booster return, Starlink deployment, in-space relight, and atmospheric reentry. The booster splashed down about 6.5 minutes after launch and the ship splashed down roughly an hour later, meeting objectives.
Read at www.scientificamerican.com
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