SpaceX Starship survives harsh reentry with heat shield, flaps intact

SpaceX’s Starship completed its 10th test flight, successfully demonstrating key systems despite enduring intense reentry conditions. The spacecraft’s stainless steel body showed burn marks, dents, and scorched tiles after splashing down in the Indian Ocean, highlighting the extreme heat and friction it faced. Notably, the heat shield—comprising thousands of silica tiles—was tested with new metal tiles and intentional gaps, resulting in dramatic orange and red streaks from rusted tiles and white patches where insulation replaced lost tiles. Despite this damage, the heat shield held firm, providing valuable data for engineers to improve its resilience. The flight also tested Starship’s large flaps, which guide the vehicle during its belly flop descent. These flaps endured red-hot temperatures and partial ablative layer burn-off but successfully controlled the spacecraft’s descent and splashdown. Additionally, Starship’s payload bay was used for the first time to deploy eight dummy Starlink satellites, proving its capability to handle real missions. The six