SpaceX launches the 11th test flight of its mega Starship rocket

By MARCIA DUNN SpaceX launched another of its mammoth Starship rockets on a test flight Monday striving to make it halfway around the world while releasing mock satellites like last time Related Articles JPMorgan to invest up to billion in US companies with crucial ties to national safety California engineer wins pumpkin contest with -pound gourd California governor signs controversial bill letting relatives care for kids if parents are deported Ex-NFL QB Mark Sanchez published from custody a week after parking fight arrest and stabbing Her husband was deported to Mexico Unwilling to remain apart she left the US to join him Starship the biggest and bulk powerful rocket ever built thundered into the evening sky from the southern tip of Texas The booster peeled away and made a controlled entry into the Gulf of Mexico as planned with the spacecraft skimming space before descending into the Indian Ocean Nothing was being recovered It was the th test flight for a full-scale Starship which SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk intends to use to send people to Mars NASA s need is more immediate The space agency cannot land astronauts on the moon by decade s end without the -foot Starship the reusable van meant to get them from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up Instead of remaining inside Launch Control as usual Musk announced that for the first time he was going outside to watch much more visceral The previous test flight in August a success after a string of explosive failures followed a similar path with similar goals More maneuvering was built in this time especially for the spacecraft SpaceX planned a series of tests during the spacecraft s entry over the Indian Ocean as practice for future landings back at the launch site SpaceX s mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica Texas Monday Oct AP Photo Eric Gay SpaceX s mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica Texas Monday Oct AP Photo Eric Gay Show Caption of SpaceX s mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica Texas Monday Oct AP Photo Eric Gay Expand Like before Starship carried up eight mock satellites mimicking SpaceX s Starlinks The entire flight was meant to last just over an hour originating from Starbase near the Mexican dividing line SpaceX is modifying its Cape Canaveral launch sites to accommodate Starships in addition to the much smaller Falcon rockets used to passage astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station for NASA The Associated Press Wellness and Science Department receives help from the Howard Hughes Health Institute s Department of Science Tuition and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation The AP is solely responsible for all content