Super Heavy Splashes Down as Starship Continues Its Test Flight
Bloomberg’s report on SpaceX’s first orbital flight test separates the Super Heavy booster’s return from Starship’s continuing flight. The broadcast confirmed the booster’s landing while showing Starship at 18,270 kilometers per hour and 145 kilometers altitude; it did not report the deployment of the 26 satellites the rocket was intended to carry into orbit.
The booster’s return and Starship’s flight were distinct milestones
The launch calls separate two parts of the flight: Super Heavy’s return and Starship’s continued journey. After reporting all 33 Super Heavy engines lit and the booster and ship’s avionics, power and telemetry nominal, the announcer called the approach to Max Q. Six engines then started on Starship, followed by stage separation. The broadcast reported a booster engine restart, showed views from the booster, counted down to five, and called engine shutdown before announcing a confirmed landing.
Those calls establish a sequence, not a single vehicle’s status. Starship’s engines started before separation; the booster’s restart and shutdown came afterward, as it returned. When the announcer called the landing, a SpaceX holding graphic showed Super Heavy’s landing at T+7:11 alongside Starship telemetry: 18,270 kilometers per hour and 145 kilometers altitude. The figures describe different vehicles at different stages of the test.
The graphic appeared while the broadcast waited for camera feeds, so the readouts supplied the view of Starship’s ongoing flight. The announcer described the booster’s landing as a “pretty soft splashdown” and then as a soft splashdown off the coast of Starbase. The broadcast therefore reported a return milestone for Super Heavy while showing Starship still in flight; it did not report the end of Starship’s mission.
The satellite deployment was an objective, not a reported milestone
The source description identifies the launch as Starship’s first orbital flight test and says the rocket carried 26 satellites that were to be deployed into orbit. That gives the displayed Starship telemetry its context: the ship’s flight was meant to carry the satellites toward an orbital deployment.
But the broadcast’s reported milestones stop short of that outcome. It calls the booster’s engine shutdown and landing, then displays Starship’s speed and altitude while waiting for camera feeds. It does not report that the satellites were deployed. The stated payload and objective explain what Starship was carrying and what the flight was intended to accomplish; the telemetry and landing calls establish only the progress shown in the broadcast.