After a Year of Mishaps, Success for Starship

SpaceX launched the latest test of its mega rocket Starship on Tuesday night and completed the first-ever deployment of a test payload—eight dummy satellites—into space. After just over an hour coasting through space, Starship splashed down as planned in the Indian Ocean, the AP reports.

• Starship blasted off from Starbase, SpaceX's launch site in South Texas. It was the 10th test for the world's biggest and most powerful rocket, which SpaceX and NASA hope to use to get astronauts back on the moon. No crew members were aboard the demo launch.
• The test also included the successful return of the craft's Super Heavy Booster, which splashed down in the Atlantic after testing a landing-burn engine sequence.

• The Starship itself continued to orbit the Earth—passing from daylight in Texas through night and back into daytime again—ahead of the planned splashdown. Before the craft hit the waves, its engines fired, flipping its position so it entered the water upright with the nose cone pointed upward.
• The attempt came after a year of mishaps. Back-to-back tests in January and March ended just minutes after liftoff, raining wreckage into the ocean. The most recent test in May—the ninth try—ended when the spacecraft tumbled out of control and broke apart. In June, another Starship blew up during testing.
• SpaceX redesigned the Super Heavy booster with larger and stronger fins for greater stability, the company said earlier this month.