Starship Flight 10
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Starship V2 · Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Starship Flight 10

A clean recovery for the program: payload deploy, in-space relight, and controlled splashdowns of both stages.

Result
Success
Super Heavy
Splashdown
Starship
Splashdown
Duration
~1 hr 6 min

Photo: SpaceX

Flight replay

Watch Starship Flight 10

The flight

What Happened

After three difficult Block 2 flights, Flight 10 was a strong recovery: Starship deployed its payload, completed an in-space engine relight, survived reentry, and made a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The booster completed its planned descent and controlled splashdown in the Gulf.

Firsts

  • First successful payload deployment from Starship

Flight path

STARBASEINDIAN OCEANSPLASHDOWNSPLASHDOWN1234567891011
The numbers match The Flight Plan below. Not to scale.

Two stages

Booster and Ship

Super Heavy boosterSplashdown
Controlled splashdown in the Gulf
Starship upper stageSplashdown
Payload deploy, in-space relight, controlled splashdown

Objectives

  • Deploy payload from Starship
  • In-space Raptor relight
  • Survive reentry and splash down under control

Minute by minute

The Flight Plan

SpaceX's plan, published before launch. The real flight can differ: What Happened above says how.

  1. T+00:02

    Liftoff

    Full stack

  2. T+01:02

    Max Q (moment of peak aerodynamic stress on the rocket)

    Full stack

  3. T+02:38

    Hot-staging (Starship Raptor ignition and stage separation)

    Full stack

  4. T+02:48

    Super Heavy boostback burn start

    Super Heavy

  5. T+06:20

    Super Heavy landing burn start

    Super Heavy

  6. T+08:57

    Starship engine cutoff

    Starship

  7. T+18:27

    Payload deploy demo start

    Starship

  8. T+37:48

    Raptor in-space relight demo

    Starship

  9. T+47:29

    Starship entry

    Starship

  10. T+1:06:14

    Landing flip

    Starship

  11. T+1:06:30

    An exciting landing!

    Starship

The full SpaceX timeline (31 steps)
  1. T−1:15:00SpaceX Flight Director conducts poll and verifies GO for propellant load
  2. T−53:00Ship fuel (liquid methane) load underway
  3. T−45:20Ship LOX (liquid oxygen) load underway
  4. T−41:37Booster fuel load underway
  5. T−35:52Booster LOX load underway
  6. T−19:40Raptor begins engine chill on booster and ship
  7. T−03:20Ship propellant load complete
  8. T−02:50Booster propellant load complete
  9. T−00:30SpaceX flight director verifies GO for launch
  10. T−00:10Flame deflector activation
  11. T−00:03Raptor ignition sequence begins
  12. T−00:00Excitement guaranteed
  13. T+00:02Liftoff
  14. T+01:02Max Q (moment of peak aerodynamic stress on the rocket)
  15. T+02:36Super Heavy MECO (most engines cut off)
  16. T+02:38Hot-staging (Starship Raptor ignition and stage separation)
  17. T+02:48Super Heavy boostback burn start
  18. T+03:38Super Heavy boostback burn shutdown
  19. T+03:40Hot-stage jettison
  20. T+06:20Super Heavy landing burn start
  21. T+06:40Super Heavy landing burn shutdown
  22. T+08:57Starship engine cutoff
  23. T+18:27Payload deploy demo start
  24. T+25:32Payload deploy demo complete
  25. T+37:48Raptor in-space relight demo
  26. T+47:29Starship entry
  27. T+1:03:15Starship is transonic
  28. T+1:04:30Starship is subsonic
  29. T+1:06:14Landing flip
  30. T+1:06:20Landing burn start
  31. T+1:06:30An exciting landing!

Planned timeline · Source: SpaceX

Sources