WATCH: SpaceX Starship catches fire in fiery splashdown in Indian Ocean after test flight

SpaceX successfully completed the 12th test flight of its massive Starship rocket system on Friday, with the spacecraft making a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean after a high-risk mission that included several technical glitches during the flight.The launch took place shortly after 5.30pm local time (2230 GMT) as SpaceX tested the latest third-generation version of Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket system.Despite the issues that arose during the mission, SpaceX employees celebrated the completion of the flight on the company’s livestream. Shortly after splashdown, visuals showed the spacecraft surrounded by flames and smoke as it plunged into the Indian Ocean.“Splashdown confirmed! Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on completing the twelfth flight test of Starship!” the company posted on X after the spacecraft splashed down safely.The company has no plans to recover the Super Heavy booster or upper stage spacecraft on this mission. According to SpaceX, the eventual plunge into the Indian Ocean was violent but controlled.During the flight, the upper-class starship successfully performed a complex maneuver in space, flipping upright and reigniting its engines to achieve a controlled reentry, although one of the engines failed during the mission.As part of the test, the spacecraft also deployed 22 simulated satellites. Two of the simulated satellites attempted to capture images of the starship’s heat shield to help engineers analyze the spacecraft’s performance during reentry.However, the mission did not go entirely smoothly.SpaceX officials said the spacecraft failed to reach its intended orbit because one of its engines failed during the early burn phase.“I wouldn’t call it an orbital insertion in name only,” SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said during the live broadcast. However, he added that the trajectory was still “within the range” of earlier calculations.The Super Heavy booster also encountered problems after it separated from its upper stage. Holt said the booster failed to complete its planned “boost burn” and fell out of control into the Gulf of Mexico.Although SpaceX has no intention of recovering the booster, the company hopes to achieve a more precise return.Friday’s test flight came a day after an earlier launch attempt was aborted due to a last-minute technical problem involving a hydraulic pin connected to the launch tower arm.SpaceX CEO Elon Musk later said on X that the issue had been resolved overnight.The latest Starship design is larger than previous versions, reaching a height of more than 407 feet (124 meters) when fully stacked.The mission also comes at a critical time for SpaceX, which faces growing scrutiny amid reports it is preparing for a potentially record-breaking initial public offering later this year.Starship remains at the heart of NASA’s Artemis program, under which SpaceX has been contracted to develop an improved version of the craft capable of taking astronauts to the moon.NASA aims to return humans to the lunar surface by the end of 2028, while China is also racing to land a manned lunar mission around 2030.NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman attended the launch and appeared at pre-launch events.“We’re looking forward to seeing this kind of flight because hopefully at some point in the not-too-distant future, we’ll be reuniting in Earth orbit,” Isaacman said.SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin are both racing to develop lunar landing systems for NASA’s future lunar missions.However, industry experts have repeatedly expressed doubts that the lunar mission can achieve its ambitious timeline, given the complex technical challenges that remain.