SpaceX’s Stunning Starship Test Shows Ship Heat Shield Burning At Hypersonic Speeds!

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After just four months since the second Starship test flight in November, SpaceX's third test successfully cleared the pad at Boca Chica, Texas, early morning local time today. Starship's third test flight came within days of an FAA approval of the rocket that also cleared SpaceX to land the second stage Starship in the Indian Ocean close to Australia. The test was SpaceX's most successful Starship run to date, as while the Super Heavy booster did not meet all of its test objectives, the second stage Starship stole the show after successful stage separation, orbit and engine cutoff.

SpaceX's livestream provided the most spectacular visuals of Starship to date, with footage showing the second stage gently cruising at 211 kilometers above the Earth's surface close to 17 minutes after liftoff.

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Second Stage Starship Stuns With Flawless Execution Of First Phase Of IFT-3 But Raptor Reliability Appears To Remain Thorn In SpaceX's Side

The first phase of today's test flight resembled SpaceX's earliest Starship tests that had attempted to land the second stage on land. These tests saw the Raptor engines struggle during reignition, with one test seeing the vehicle blow up after it attempted to guide itself back in position after a flip.

For IFT-3, the first half of the fight before stage separation went as well as anyone could expect. Not only did the world's largest rocket successfully clear the pad for the third time, but SpaceX's hot stage separation, which requires the second stage to fire its engines to jettison away from the Super Heavy, also worked as expected. The ascent portion also saw all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy successfully remain operational until stage separation.

Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster