It was the afternoon in the USA when SpaceX conducted a new flight test of its Super Heavy rocket and Starship prototypes, launched from its base in Boca Chica, Texas. This is the sixth test involving the entire system of Elon Musk’s company which is supposed to revolutionize space travel with an unprecedented transport capacity and being totally reusable. They are advanced prototypes with the Super Heavy identified as Booster 13 and the Starship identified as Starship 31 or Ship31 or simply S31.

The profile of this sixth test is similar to that of the fifth but with some differences that may seem small but are important. SpaceX conducted the previous tests when it was morning in Texas while in this case, it was afternoon. The crucial difference is that in the area of ​​the Indian Ocean where the Starship 31’s splashdown was scheduled, it was already day while in the previous tests, it was night. Telemetry data is invaluable but clear images have value in subsequent assessments as well.

A great success in the fifth test was given by the landing of Booster 13 with the relative capture by the structure called Mechazilla. There are many criteria that must be satisfied to allow the capture attempt, and information that arrived days later revealed that that attempt came very close to being aborted. In yesterday’s test, some criteria were violated and Booster 13 was made to splash down near the base.

The end of Booster 13 may seem like a failure but it must be kept in mind that these are still prototypes, however advanced they are. Safety is the first priority and that’s why SpaceX set many criteria in deciding whether to allow the landing maneuver. During the maneuvers, it seemed under control and the decision not to capture it seems to be due to prudence.

Starship 31 climbed steadily to just over 190 kilometers of altitude, lower than in previous tests. During the live broadcast, SpaceX chose to show the inside of this prototype’s cargo bay, where the only cargo was a banana.

Almost 38 minutes after the launch, one of the Raptor engines of Starship 31 was re-ignited. This was a very quick event since the engine was shut down after just a few seconds. The purpose was to verify that the engine was working properly in space and it was one of the important novelties because in the future, a Starship must be able to maneuver in space and perform maneuvers to re-enter from the orbit.

Slowly, Starship 31 descended until it re-entered the atmosphere. Several modifications were made to the heat shield and SpaceX wanted to test the performance and especially the resistance of this prototype to the very high stresses that it must endure during reentry.

In the last minutes of flight, after having slowed down considerably, Starship 31 was turned upside down to test its structure and heat shield in the most extreme way. At that point, this prototype already showed damages, yet it managed to turn upside down again for another braking maneuver and to splash down in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia.

The Super Heavy and Starship’s development schedule is fluid, in the sense that it depends a lot on the results of the tests and on any problems that might come out during development. The next test should be the first with the new version of Starship, the so-called Block 2. Overall, the sixth test had good results but the decisions for future developments will also depend on the analysis of the data collected.