Starship is continuing its test flight — and it should be wild

SpaceX had already warned that its Super Heavy booster might not land as it did during the last test flight in October. And it didn’t, although we’re still not sure why SpaceX opted to land the booster in the Gulf of Mexico instead.

Still, the Super Heavy tested out its landing maneuver, albeit over the water, anyway. That allows SpaceX engineers to collect data, adding to a rapidly growing trove of information that could help inform employees about how to improve for the next flight.

The upper Starship spacecraft, however, has now separated from the Super Heavy, lit its own engines, and is continuing to soar through space.

Unlike the October test flight, SpaceX will attempt to push the spacecraft to its limits. The goal is to use this real-case scenario to hash out exactly how and when Starship may fail in future situations when SpaceX must be more careful — i.e. in situations where humans or satellites are on board.

That means Starship may not make it to the ocean in one piece, or at least not as gracefully as it did during the last test launch.