SpaceX Starship Flight 11 Ends Successful Test with ‘Soft’ Splashdown
The next version of Starship is already in the process of being assembled, and may be ready for testing at the end of this year.
The last time I reported on SpaceX’s Starship program in August, its Starship megarocket took to the skies for the 10th time, completing its objectives in a bold test flight that marked a big bounce-back from recent failures.
SpaceX’s 11th orbital test flight of Starship/Superheavy was completed Monday and was a significant success that met all engineering goals and marked the final mission of the vehicle’s Version 2 generation.
Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its 11th Starship rocket from Texas on Monday and landed it in the Indian Ocean, the last flight before the company begins test-launching a new version of the giant rocket outfitted with more features for moon and Mars missions.
Starship, which includes the Starship upper stage stacked atop its Super Heavy booster, launched at 6:23 p.m. CT (2323 GMT) from SpaceX’s Starbase facilities. After sending the Starship stage to space, Super Heavy returned for a soft water landing in the Gulf of Mexico 7 minutes after liftoff, testing a landing engine configuration before blowing itself up.
Its last mission, in August, ended a streak of testing failures earlier this year. Monday’s flight was similar to the previous one, again deploying a batch of mock Starlink satellites, briefly re-lighting its engines in space and testing new heat shield tiles during its blazing hot return from space before splashing down west of Australia.
Starship’s eleventh flight test reached every objective, providing valuable data as we prepare the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy → https://t.co/YmvmGZTV8o pic.twitter.com/gO0i8XFWIH
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 14, 2025
The flight test was packed with a great deal of activity, concluding with a controlled landing maneuver and a soft splashdown.
Starship’s crowning achievement, though, was surviving a reentry profile intended to push the rocket to its limits.
As it did ahead of previous flights, SpaceX for Flight 11 removed some of the heat shield tiles protecting Starship’s stainless steel body. The idea is to “stress-test” vulnerable portions of the heat shield that experience temperatures north of 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit while hurtling through the atmosphere.
The ship made it through reentry without significant damage visible on SpaceX’s live feed, which should give the company valuable data. It also performed what SpaceX described as a “dynamic banking maneuver” that mimicked the trajectory it would take leading up to a catch attempt at Starbase. These tests could facilitate the eventual catch and rapid reuse of Starship — a capability SpaceX has already demonstrated with Super Heavy.
Following the bank maneuver, Starship floated down to Earth on its side, as if preparing for a belly flop. It then performed a landing flip and burn, splashing down softly at a preplanned location in the Indian Ocean.
Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on an exciting eleventh flight test of Starship! pic.twitter.com/llcIvNZFfg
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 14, 2025
The next version of Starship is already in the process of being assembled, with a new launch pad nearing completion at Starbase, Texas, specifically for the larger V3 configuration.
Next for SpaceX is version 3 of the vehicle, featuring upgrades to increase payload performance. This version will likely be the first to reach orbit after one or more suborbital test flights. SpaceX plans to use the vehicle to deploy larger next-generation Starlink satellites tested on recent flights.
“We’re actively building multiple next-generation v3 Starship and Super Heavy vehicles in the factory,” SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said during the launch webcast. That includes a “complete overhaul” of the Starship upper stage, with upgrades ranging from new Raptor engines to docking adapters that will allow Starships to dock for in-space propellant transfers.
The new version of Super Heavy includes an upgraded fuel transfer line that SpaceX said is about the same size as a Falcon 9 booster, as well as an integrated “hot-staging” ring at the top of the booster that will remain attached rather than be jettisoned. The booster’s grid fins have also been redesigned, with three instead of four.
“Bottom line, this is the Starship we’re planning to use for all of our next major milestones,” Huot said.
The first test flight for the next version of Starship is expected to take place late in 2025 or early in 2026.
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Thank you Leslie, this is the only “news” I am actually interested in.
All else I come here to read is defensive information, and thank you all for that also.
And as always, hello and thank you Professor Jacobson.
attach drones and payloads and the chinese will be privately begging trump for mercy
I wonder if it can lift Rods from Gods into orbit. I suppose I could do the calculation bit I’m too lazy. Anyways Starship is awesome. Having followed the space program since Mercury I’m gob smacked by their rate of progress, I’m astounded by what they’ve accomplished so far. Maybe they should eliminate NASA except for a skeleton crew to plan scientific efforts and monitor satellites, Outsource the rest to SpaceX.
100 tons of tungsten telephone poles into LEO. They have been stressing Starship V2 and this mission showed excellent modifications for the heat shield. During the pre-launch SpaceX showed their production line for the tiles…. thousands of them being made in a day. Remember when the “experts” said the spacecraft design wasn’t going to work? If one takes Starship solely as a suborbital shuttle…. half way around the world in less than an hour.
Oooh… then it is doable. Hehe… Talk about your new generation bunker buster.
The thing I like best about SpaceX videos is the cheering employees. They are the cream of the crop, both in ability and attitude. If the government were to seize SpaceX (unlikely, hopefully), I’m pretty sure most of that excellence would disappear very quickly, for reasons which readers here would have no trouble listing.