Preparations continue to launch a SpaceX Starship spacecraft at sunrise as it sits atop a super heavy booster at the company's complex in Starbase, Texas, U.S., August 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Elon Musk's SpaceX on Tuesday launched its giant Starship rocket for a tenth test flight aiming to overcome development setbacks and clinch long-sought technical milestones key to the Mars rocket's reusable design.
The towering 403-foot-tall (123 m) Starship system lifted off around 7:30 p.m. EST (2330 GMT) from SpaceX's Starbase facilities in south Texas on a mission to test the ship's new heat shield tiles and satellite deployment abilities, among hundreds of other upgrades from past iterations.
