Farewell, V2: SpaceX on Monday night sent Starship’s current configuration on one last test flight, in a mission that the company says hit all its key goals, moving the program into its next phase.

The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket lifted off from Starbase, Texas at 6:23 PM local time. The Super Heavy booster, reused from a March test, tried a new landing-burn profile, reigniting 13 engines before throttling down to five, and finally three for the final hover before completing a planned soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico roughly seven minutes after liftoff.

Meanwhile, Starship’s upper stage deployed eight mock Starlink satellite simulators, trialing a new “dynamic banking maneuver” profile that the company aims to use for future return-to-pad attempts at Starbase. The upper stage then s

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