SpaceX Starship completes first flight after IPO, releases Starlink satellites in orbit

Source: Global Market Report

Following its high-profile initial public offering, SpaceX's giant Starship had its first large-scale test flight, successfully reaching orbit and deploying the next-generation upgraded Starlink satellites.

At 5:51 p.m. local time on Friday, the Super Heavy booster carrying Starship launched from SpaceX’s Starbase in southern Texas.

Starship carries Elon Musk’s core vision for development: expanding the Starlink satellite communications network, achieving manned lunar missions and further interstellar travel, and building in-space data centers. However, the rocket's development has been challenging, with multiple explosions and equipment failures resulting in continuous project delays.

Previous repeated delays in test flights triggered market sell-offs of SpaceX stock, highlighting investors’ high sensitivity to the risks inherent in the company’s “test-fail-fix” iterative development model. During regular U.S. trading hours, SpaceX shares closed down 3% on Friday, with a cumulative decline of about 25% over the past month, far below the IPO price of $135 per share.

According to media reports on Thursday, SpaceX is going all in on the Starship project: the company has stopped accepting exclusive Falcon rocket launch bookings from satellite operators beyond 2028. The Falcon series has been the main workhorse in the global space launch industry for many years.

This is the 13th test flight for Starship.

During launch, all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster ignited, propelling Starship into space, ultimately reaching near-orbital velocity.

About six minutes after liftoff, the booster landed in the Gulf of Mexico as planned, with cheers at the ground control center. Compared to the previous test flight, the booster’s performance has greatly improved; last time it spun out of control and one engine shut down prematurely.

SpaceX engineer Nathan Komisariat said, “Super Heavy Booster executed another perfect recovery landing—absolutely breathtaking.”

On this mission, SpaceX did not attempt to use the aerial robotic arm recovery technique successfully accomplished in previous 2024 test flights; this technology is a key step toward the rapid reuse of rockets.

While in orbit, Starship released 20 Starlink satellites, with on-site personnel cheering “Long live America.” These satellites will deploy solar panels and connect to the global Starlink network via laser optical communication links.

About twenty minutes after satellite release, they will re-enter Earth and completely burn up in the atmosphere.

About an hour after launch, Starship is planned to splash down in the Indian Ocean.

Musk's company designed Starship as a fully reusable launch vehicle, a technology not yet achieved by other aerospace enterprises. Both the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft are required to return to Earth intact after each launch to allow for repeated space missions; SpaceX’s investment in Starship development has already exceeded $15 billion.

The third-generation Starship features specific optimizations for reusability, with Musk predicting that SpaceX could achieve full cyclic reusability of Starship by the end of this year.

NASA and SpaceX have a Starship contract valued at about $4 billion, planning to use Starship to send astronauts to the moon as early as 2028. To achieve manned lunar landings, SpaceX must overcome the technical challenge of in-orbit refueling, conduct over a dozen consecutive stable Starship launches, and certify the safety of manned flight. Currently, the vehicle has yet to complete a full orbital flight, making these missions extremely challenging.