Watch SpaceX’s fourth Starship flight test

SpaceX sent the Starship vehicle on its fourth flight test on Thursday. The vehicle lifted off at 8:50AM ET and separated from its Super Heavy booster rocket without issue. While the Starship continues on its path toward the Indian Ocean, a livestream from SpaceX showed the booster rocket executing a landing burn and splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico as planned.

As of 9:42AM ET, the stream is live once again, showing views from the Starship during reentry.

SpaceX says the primary objective for the fourth flight test is to demonstrate the ability to return and reuse Starship and its Super Heavy booster — requiring the spacecraft to survive the reentry phase through Earth’s atmosphere, where it broke apart during its last flight test. This launch builds on what SpaceX learned during Starship’s flight in March, which saw the craft successfully launch into space and complete several objectives before contact with the vehicle was lost.

SpaceX says it has made several hardware and software updates to address previous issues. The third flight test was the most successful to date, with the first two Starship launches ending with fiery explosions shortly after liftoff.

If all goes to plan this time, we should see a controlled entry for Starship with a splashdown in the Indian Ocean, with the Super Heavy booster expected to perform a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico

Update, June 6th: Added details from the launch and livestreams.