SpaceX’s Starship, the largest and most powerful spacecraft ever sent into space, completed a fourth test flight Thursday, successfully crashing into the Indian Ocean for the first time since it began conducting test flights last year. The rocket’s first three tests ended in explosions.
The unmanned craft is classified as a super-heavy launch vehicle and is working toward an ultimate goal: 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 Artemis III mission to the moon, scheduled for 2026.
Here’s what’s happened in all four Starship test launches so far, illustrating SpaceX’s progressive improvement since the first test in April 2023.
June 6, 2024: Starship completes first-ever successful landing burn during fourth test flight
The spaceship had its most successful test run for the fourth time, lifting off from SpaceX’s private Starbase location in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday morning at 8:50 a.m. ET.
The craft experienced successful separation from the booster, with 32 of the 33 engines igniting correctly during launch, approximately seven minutes into flight.
The booster successfully returned to Earth and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico as planned and all six of Starship’s engines successfully placed it into orbit.
The heat shields protecting the spacecraft’s exterior took a hit, with at least one throwing debris into one of the live-streaming remote cameras, but it managed a successful re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
About an hour and six minutes into the flight, Starship completed its first-ever landing and crashed into the Indian Ocean to loud applause.
March 14, 2024: The spaceship reaches space before getting lost in the atmosphere during the third test flight
In the third test, the Starship managed to separate from the booster and enter orbit within minutes of launch, where it performed a series of in-flight tests as it flew through space.
Video of its flight, sent back to Earth using SpaceX’s Starlink satellite network, was able to capture the beginning of the spacecraft’s reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. However, the signal was lost about an hour into the mission before SpaceX concluded that the spacecraft likely broke up.
Despite Starship’s failure to complete its planned landing in the Indian Ocean, SpaceX said the rocket still achieved a number of key milestones, including successfully firing the 33 Raptor engines in the booster and opening a loading door.
NASA Administrator welcomed the test as an optimistic development. “I’m just completely blown away,” said Dan Huot, communications manager for SpaceX, who helped host the live webcast. “We are further along than ever before.”
November 18, 2023: Starship advances into second test flight, but still explodes
During the Starship’s second launch test, the rocket survived longer and reached some milestones, but ultimately exploded.
The booster successfully separated from the rocket, which reached space before ground crews lost communication with it after nine minutes. Three minutes later, SpaceX lost both the booster and the spacecraft in two explosions.
Rather than seeing it as a setback, SpaceX expressed optimism about the phase separation, while saying the rest would just be valuable data to help them fix what went wrong.
“The real topping on the cake today, that successful launch,” SpaceX commentator John Insprucker said after the test in November, as reported by the Associated Press. Insprucker noted that for the first time, all 33 booster engines worked as designed and the booster separated seamlessly from the spacecraft, which reached an altitude of 93 miles.
April 20, 2023: The spaceship explodes minutes after launch during its first test flight
The Starship got off to a rocky start when it exploded just four minutes into its first test flight on April 20.
The spacecraft was able to launch at SpaceX’s private Starbase location, but telemetry data showed that several of the spacecraft’s engines failed, causing the explosion before the booster and spacecraft could even separate.
SpaceX later confirmed that the rocket’s flight termination system had activated to destroy the tumbling vehicle before it met its fiery end.
Eric Lagatta covers the latest and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com