…thanks to the Starlink terminal on Starship! 🚀 📡
As it reenters the atmosphere at high speed, the 18,000 heat tiles on Starship protect it from heat, and the plasma you can see here interrupts radio links to the ground. This is the nail-biting blackout period experienced with Apollo and all prior orbital reentries.
The Starlink terminal is on the other side of Starship, and connects upward, to the Starlink satellites orbiting in space, providing live video and data during the reentry period.
An incredible launch this morning, with 33 Raptor engines breathing fire, hot staging over the Gulf of Mexico, boost back to the ocean, good upper stage burn, and test of the Pez bay door. Photo sequence below.
At 5000 tons, Starship is the largest flying object ever made.
33 Raptor engines alight:
Looking back at Starbase, TX launch site:
Stage separation, with the booster pivoting below for the boost-back burn to come:
Starship in space, at orbital velocity:
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