SpaceX has reached a significant milestone in its Starship program. During the tenth test flight, the company successfully deployed eight Starlink satellite prototypes. Although the launch was delayed several times due to weather and technical issues, it proceeded without any incidents. Previous flights had seen Starship explode during ascent, but this time everything went smoothly.

The launch took place at 6:30 PM Central Time on August 26, 2025 (02:30 AM August 27 Kyiv time) from the Starbase launch site in Texas. The Super Heavy first stage ignited all 33 Raptor engines, lifting the rocket above the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. After stage separation, Super Heavy executed a series of complex maneuvers, including landing burns and intentionally shutting down one of the three central engines at a critical moment, using a backup instead.

The upper stage of Starship continued its flight into space, successfully deploying eight Starlink satellite prototypes and conducting a re-ignition of the Raptor engine in space, which is crucial for future maneuvers.

During the return phase, special attention was given to testing the thermal protection and structure of Starship, which were subjected to extreme loads to gather data on their strength.

SpaceX emphasized that this flight marks an important step towards full reusability of the Starship system, though there is still much work ahead regarding the technology for reusing the upper stage.