Good news for One NZ: Elon Musk’s Starship makes first return to Earth without exploding

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship launched for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Thursday, June 6 (Friday, June 7 NZT). Photo / SpaceX via AP

SpaceX’s mega Starship rocket completed its first full test flight on Thursday (Friday NZT), returning to Earth without exploding after blasting off from Texas.

That’s good news for One NZ, which is partnering with SpaceX-owned Starlink for texting via satellite - from a normal cellphone - from almost anywhere in NZ from the end of this year, effectively eliminating mobile blackspots (as long as you have line-of-sight to the sky). Next year, voice calls and internet will be added to One NZ’s satellite mix. But to offer voice and data, larger next-generation Starlink satellites are required - which can only fit on Starship, not SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets.

Rivals Spark and 2degrees have both teamed with putative Starlink rival Lynk. Successful text and voice trials have taken place, and a Nelson pilot in 2degrees’ case, but with no commercial launch date yet.

It was the fourth launch of the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, standing nearly 121m tall.

The three previous flight demos ended in explosions. This time, the rocket and the spacecraft managed to splash down in a controlled fashion, making the hour-long flight the longest and most successful yet.

“Despite loss of many tiles and a damaged flap, Starship made it all the way to a soft landing in the ocean!” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said via X.

Starship was empty as it soared above the Gulf of Mexico and headed east on a flight to the Indian Ocean. Within minutes, the first-stage booster separated from the spacecraft and splashed into the gulf precisely as planned, after firing its engines.

The spacecraft reached an altitude of nearly 211 kilometres, travelling at more than 26,000km/h, before beginning its descent. Live views showed parts of the spacecraft breaking away during the intense heat of reentry, but a cracked camera lens obscured the images.

The spacecraft remained intact enough to transmit data all the way to its targeted splashdown site in the Indian Ocean.

It was a critical milestone in the company’s plan to eventually reuse the rocket that Nasa and Musk are counting on to get humanity to the moon and then Mars.

“What a show it has been,” SpaceX launch commentator Kate Tice said from Mission Control at company headquarters in California.

SpaceX came close to avoiding explosions in March, but lost contact with the spacecraft as it careened out of space and blew up short of its goal. The booster also ruptured in flight, a quarter-mile above the gulf.

Last year’s two test flights ended in explosions shortly after blasting off from the southern tip of Texas near the Mexican border. The first one cratered the pad at Boca Chica Beach and hurled debris for thousands of feet.

SpaceX upgraded the software and made some rocket-flyback changes to improve the odds. The Federal Aviation Administration signed off on Tuesday on this fourth demo, saying all safety requirements had been met.

Starship is designed to be fully reusable. That’s why SpaceX wants to control the booster’s entry into the gulf and the spacecraft’s descent into the Indian Ocean - it’s intended as practice for planned future landings. Nothing is being recovered from Thursday’s flight.

Nasa has ordered a pair of Starships for two moon-landing missions by astronauts, on tap for later this decade. Each moon crew will rely on Nasa’s own rocket and capsule to leave Earth, but meet up with Starship in lunar orbit for the ride down to the surface.

SpaceX already is selling tourist trips around the moon. The first private lunar customer, a Japanese tycoon, pulled out of the trip with his entourage last week, citing the oft-delayed schedule.

SpaceX’s founder and CEO has grander plans: Musk envisions fleets of Starships launching people and the infrastructure necessary to build a city on Mars.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

With reporting by AP