SpaceX staff were thrilled last week with the results of another test flight: Starship, consisting of the space craft itself ("Ship") and its booster ("Super Heavy"), flew into space and returned separately to a soft splashdown. No RUD, rapid unplanned disassembly, this time.
Super Heavy was powered by 32 of its 33 Raptor engines, which you can see as lighted circles in the video below. When it makes its soft landing at about 7 1/2 minutes after liftoff, you can hear the SpaceX crowd explode with joy and relief.
They like to say that "the data is the payload" for this flight. Live, visual data is recorded by cameras and transmitted by Starlink, the network of internet-service satellites owned by SpaceX.
Ship flew further and faster into space (up to ~26,000 KM/H) powered by its own engines after Super Heavy separated. Surviving re-entry, it executed its "flip" and landing burn, and achieved its own soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
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