SpaceX Starship Flight 10 Finally Finds Success, But Only Super Heavy Survives

SpaceX's latest Starship Flight 10 has finally brought the success the company has sought for the entire year. It marks the first successful mission the experimental heavy-lift rocket achieved in 2025.

Flight 10 marks the fourth test flight of the Starship, and in its first three attempts earlier this year, SpaceX was met with massive challenges and losses that held back its goals to inch the Starship closer to being operational.

SpaceX Starship Flight 10: First Success in 2025

Elon Musk and SpaceX are still on a high after the recent Flight 10 launch of the Starship program, which resulted in their first successful mission in over eight months.

The company claims that in this test launch, they have pushed the limits of its spacecraft and recorded significant amounts of data that will help them improve the rocket further for future tests.

This mission has given SpaceX a chance to move forward after its previous setbacks, with future test flights set to possibly carry cargo and deliver it to low-Earth orbit.

Super Heavy Survived, Ship Was Lost

Both of its rockets splashed down in bodies of water, with the first-stage Super Heavy booster rocket being directed to land in the Gulf of Mexico as SpaceX did not opt for Mechazilla to catch it.

Super Heavy carried itself and the Ship, igniting all 33 Raptor engines and breaking the speed of sound as it climbed to the stratosphere.

The Ship detached successfully and fired all six Raptor engines in its climb to low-Earth orbit before performing its re-entry and then performed the tumble maneuver for its ocean landing.

SpaceX's clip shows the Ship's successful tumble maneuver before igniting several Raptor engines as it prepared for its splashdown in the Indian Ocean, and the company was able to position itself accurately near its landing zone.

However, as the Ship splashed down, it tilted to its side and ended its mission with yet another explosion in the water. The stainless-steel body of the Starship showed orange hues engulfing it, but SpaceX has yet to confirm what it is and what caused it.

SpaceX's Starship Setbacks

SpaceX has to prove that it can perform launches without any problems or hitches, but earlier this year, up until May's Flight 9, the company saw three straight failures in its testing.

Flight 9 is the most harrowing of all for the Musk-owned company, particularly as it saw both the Ship and Super Heavy exploding as it maneuvered to return to the surface for its retrieval.

On the other hand, Flight 8 saw the Super Heavy being caught by the Mechazilla launch tower and landing without hitches, but it still resulted in the loss of the Ship as it attempted its re-entry maneuver.

SpaceX's Flight 7 was supposed to have continued the successes the company saw in 2024, but while they successfully retrieved the Super Heavy after ditching its Mechazilla catch, it also saw the Ship exploding in its re-entry.