SpaceX’s spacecraft, the largest and most powerful spacecraft ever sent into space, completed its fourth test flight on Thursday, successfully landing in the Indian Ocean for the first time since test flights began last year. The first three rocket tests ended in explosions.
Classified as a super-heavy launch vehicle, the unmanned craft is working towards the ultimate goal of ferrying astronauts back and forth between Earth, the Moon and even Mars.
Thursday’s successful test is good news for NASA, which awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract in 2021 to develop the first commercial human lander for its 2026 Artemis III mission to the moon.
Here’s what’s happened in all four of the starship’s test launches so far, illustrating SpaceX’s progressive improvements since its inaugural test in April 2023.
June 6, 2024: Starship completes the first ever successful landing on its fourth test flight
The starship had its most successful test run for the fourth time when it lifted off from SpaceX’s private base in Boca Chica, Texas, at 8:50 a.m. ET Thursday morning.
The craft experienced successful booster separation, with 32 of the 33 engines firing properly during liftoff, about seven minutes into flight.
The booster successfully returned to Earth and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico as planned, with all six of the starship’s engines propelling it to a successful orbital placement.
The heat shields protecting the exterior of the craft took a hit, with at least one throwing debris into one of the external live feed cameras, but managed to successfully re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.
After about an hour and six minutes of flight, the starship completed its first ever landing and plunged into the Indian Ocean to thunderous applause.
March 14, 2024: A starship reaches space before being lost to the atmosphere on its third test flight
In the third test, the starship managed to separate from the booster and continue into orbit within minutes of liftoff, where it performed a series of inertial flight tests through space.
Video of its flight transmitted back to Earth using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network was able to capture the start of the spacecraft’s re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. However, the signal was lost about an hour into the mission, before SpaceX concluded that the ship had likely broken up.
Despite Starship failing to make its planned impact in the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said the rocket still achieved several key milestones, including the successful firing of its 33 Raptor engines in the booster and the opening of the payload door.
NASA Administrator praised the test as an optimistic development. “I’m absolutely thrilled,” said Dan Huot, SpaceX’s communications manager, who helped host the live webcast. “We’re further than we’ve ever been.
November 18, 2023: Starship gets further on second test flight, but still explodes
During the starship’s second launch test, the rocket survived longer and reached several milestones, but still ended up exploding.
The booster was able to successfully separate from the space-bound rocket before the ground crew lost contact with it after nine minutes. Three minutes later, SpaceX lost both booster and spacecraft in two explosions.
Instead of seeing it as a setback, SpaceX expressed optimism about the stage separation, saying the rest will just be valuable data to help them fix what went wrong.
“The real icing on the cake today, the successful launch,” SpaceX commentator John Insprucker said after the November test, according to the Associated Press. Insprucker noted that for the first time, all 33 booster engines fired as designed, and the booster smoothly separated from the spacecraft, reaching an altitude of 92 miles.
April 20, 2023: A starship explodes minutes after liftoff on its inaugural test flight
The starship got off to a rough start when it exploded just four minutes into its inaugural test flight on April 20.
The ship was able to launch at SpaceX’s private base, but telemetry data revealed that several of the spacecraft’s engines had failed, causing an explosion before the booster and spacecraft could separate.
SpaceX later confirmed that the rocket’s termination system had been activated to destroy the falling vehicle before it reached its fiery end.
Eric Lagatta covers the latest and trending news for USA TODAY. Contact him at elagatta@gannett.com