Starship Flight 4

The first three Starships had broken apart at altitude, on reentry, or above the Gulf during a landing burn. For the fourth, the goal was to have both stages survive to the ocean.

On 6 June 2024, Booster 11 lifted from Starbase, lost one Raptor seconds after clearing the tower, and continued to fly the planned trajectory — completing a hot-staging separation, returning to a "virtual tower" point above the Gulf, and softly splashing down. SpaceX leadership claimed half-centimetre accuracy on the simulated catch.

Ship 29 was the harder problem. During atmospheric reentry over the Indian Ocean — the first completed from orbital velocity by a Starship — its forward flap partially burned through, the live camera looking out at the melting hinge in real time. The ship held attitude and completed a landing burn, splashing down six kilometres from the target centre.