Seven months of pause, new hardware, a new launch pad - and an old, familiar scenario. SpaceX successfully launched its upgraded Starship V3 rocket for the first time from Starbase in Texas on Thursday evening local time. The upper stage separated, the orbital mission continued. The booster ended up in the less lucky group.

The 124-metre rocket lifted off right on schedule. Separation of the upper stage from the Super Heavy booster went without a hitch. Then, when the booster was supposed to head back to the launch pad, the engines refused to restart for the longer trip home. The booster fell uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico and likely exploded on impact with the water.

The upper stage performed more seriously. It lost one of six Raptor engines during ascent - not ideal, but within tolerances. With the remaining five, it successfully deployed the simulated 20 Starlink satellites plus two modified observation satellites. The whole mission ended with a simulated splashdown in the Indian Ocean, after which the rocket tipped over and exploded - exactly as the plan called for.

For SpaceX, this is an important test of the new V3 hardware and the new launch pad at Starbase. No Starship has flown since October 2025, and the company had to prove the new configuration works. From four perspectives (pad, booster, upper stage, satellite deployment), three can be counted as a pass.

The question now is whether SpaceX can fix the booster engine restart problem before the next tests. The „chopstick" catch design for grabbing the booster on its return is the entire point of Starship's reusability - without it, the per-flight cost jumps by tens of millions of dollars. Musk has things to prove, and there's still time. Still.