Bellyflops, Booms and Big Rockets: A Recap of SpaceX’s Starship Tests By Kenneth Chang and Josephine Sedgwick April 16, 2023 SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket not only is huge but also designed to be fully reusable. That means when it returns to Earth, it has to survive re-entry and land softly, vertically and in one piece. Look back at the test launches — some more successful than others — that prepared SpaceX for its latest, most ambitious flight. It all started with a few small jumps … … first by a modest prototype named Starhopper. On Aug. 27, 2019, it went up 500 feet above the Texas Gulf Coast … … flew sideways for a bit and came down on a separate landing pad. Next, something bigger: a full-size Starship prototype, SN5, going up 500 feet … … and landing. (SN stands for “serial number,” and numbers 1 to 4 never made it to the launchpad.) Let’s try that again with SN6. Going up … … and landing. Once Starship had mastered hops, SN8 aimed higher. In December 2020, it launched to an altitude of six miles and shut off its engines. It then tipped over to a bellyflop position to increase air resistance and gracefully slow its fall. In the last few seconds, Starship went back to vertical and fired its engines again for a soft landing. But on this first attempt, the rocket hit the ground too hard and exploded. SpaceX tried again with SN9 on Feb. 2, 2021. Again, it went up six miles. This Starship hit the ground even harder. One month later, near sunset, SN10 went up … … bellyflopped, fell, flipped up … … and landed slightly leaning, but in one piece. But the hard impact caused a fuel leak and a fire. A few minutes later, after SpaceX had already ended its livestream, SN10 exploded. March 30, 2021, was a foggy launch day for SN11. Nonetheless, everything seemed to start well. But during SN11’s final descent, the video feed froze … … followed by the sound (click the audio icon to hear) of the rocket coming apart, debris raining toward the ground. The next Starship prototype to make it to the launchpad was SN15 on May 5, 2021. Once again, Starship bellyflopped like a skydiver. And pivoted to a vertical position for landing. This time, the landing was completely successful. Since then, SpaceX has been working toward a flight to space, putting a Starship on top of its new Super Heavy rocket booster and launching it from Texas to splashdown off Hawaii. A launch attempt will happen soon after one was scrubbed on Monday. Advertisement