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"Starship" completed its 13 th test flight; The booster experienced a "hard splashdown" and the spacecraft splashed down safely in the Indian Ocean!; Musk; Starship is intact

2026-07-25·newswire-us-stock-065001
"Starship" completed its 13 th test flight; The booster experienced a "hard splashdown" and the spacecraft splashed down safely in the Indian Ocean!; Musk; Starship is intact.

This has been a rough week for Elon Musk. Tesla's stock price plummeted 18% this week, closing at $313.03 on Friday, the worst weekly decline since 2022. At the same time, SpaceX's stock price continued its downward trend, falling 7.2% in the past five trading days, closing at $115.07 on Friday, the lowest level since the company's record IPO last month.

As a result, Musk's personal wealth evaporated by approximately US$130 billion (approximately RMB 880.386 billion) in a week, and only a few weeks have passed since he became the world's first trillionaire.

On Friday, he posted a self-deprecating post on social media: "Ex-trillionaire." It is worth noting that after many twists and turns, SpaceX’s Starship finally completed its 13th test flight. According to CCTV News, the launch took place at 17:51 Eastern Time on the 24th (6:51 Beijing time on July 25).

The rocket's first-stage "Super Heavy" booster splashed down in the waters near the Gulf of Mexico. However, because part of the engine failed to re-ignite successfully, it descended faster than expected, and eventually had a "hard splashdown" in the Gulf of Mexico.

During the flight of the second-stage "Starship" spacecraft, the six engines were operating normally and 20 new-generation "Starlink" satellites were deployed. The spacecraft also briefly restarted an engine in space to verify the on-orbit ignition capability required for future lunar missions.

About an hour and five minutes after launch, the spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia.

Musk immediately posted: "The starship is intact and is currently floating in the ocean and sending back telemetry data!" According to Jiemian News, the launch covered key processes such as real payload deployment, laser communication verification, insulation tile status monitoring, booster recovery and spacecraft re-entry, all of which are verification of core technical capabilities in future commercial operations.

Unlike previous test flights that only carried counterweight simulators, in this mission, the cargo bay of the Starship spacecraft was loaded with 20 functioning third-generation Starlink V3 satellites. This is regarded by the industry as a landmark test flight for the starship to transition from prototype testing to commercial transportation.

The starship can carry 60 V3 satellites when fully loaded. A single launch can add 60Tbps bandwidth to the constellation. The transportation capacity is equivalent to 40 times that of Falcon 9, and it can lay a massive amount of near-Earth network bandwidth at one time.

The success of this test may indicate that V3 satellites will officially enter the stage of large-scale orbital deployment.

In the future, it will directly promote the leapfrog upgrade of the broadband carrying capacity of Starlink's entire network and support the extension of Starlink satellite Internet from remote rural markets to wider densely populated areas.

Starship is about 120 meters long and consists of the first-stage booster "Super Heavy Thruster" and the second-stage spacecraft "Starship". It is currently the largest and most powerful launch vehicle in human history. It can send more than 100 tons of items into orbit at one time. It is also a completely reusable rocket.

#Stocks #Tesla #IPO

Full text

"Starship" completed its 13 th test flight; The booster experienced a "hard splashdown" and the spacecraft splashed down safely in the Indian Ocean!; Musk; Starship is intact

This has been a rough week for Elon Musk. Tesla's stock price plummeted 18% this week, closing at $313.03 on Friday, the worst weekly decline since 2022. At the same time, SpaceX's stock price continued its downward trend, falling 7.2% in the past five trading days, closing at $115.07 on Friday, the lowest level since the company's record IPO last month.

This has been a rough week for Elon Musk. Tesla's stock price plummeted 18% this week, closing at $313.03 on Friday, the worst weekly decline since 2022. At the same time, SpaceX's stock price continued its downward trend, falling 7.2% in the past five trading days, closing at $115.07 on Friday, the lowest level since the company's record IPO last month. As a result, Musk's personal wealth evaporated by approximately US$130 billion (approximately RMB 880.386 billion) in a week, and only a few weeks have passed since he became the world's first trillionaire. On Friday, he posted a self-deprecating post on social media: "Ex-trillionaire." It is worth noting that after many twists and turns, SpaceX’s Starship finally completed its 13th test flight. According to CCTV News, the launch took place at 17:51 Eastern Time on the 24th (6:51 Beijing time on July 25). The rocket's first-stage "Super Heavy" booster splashed down in the waters near the Gulf of Mexico. However, because part of the engine failed to re-ignite successfully, it descended faster than expected, and eventually had a "hard splashdown" in the Gulf of Mexico. During the flight of the second-stage "Starship" spacecraft, the six engines were operating normally and 20 new-generation "Starlink" satellites were deployed. The spacecraft also briefly restarted an engine in space to verify the on-orbit ignition capability required for future lunar missions. About an hour and five minutes after launch, the spacecraft splashed down in the Indian Ocean northwest of Australia. Musk immediately posted: "The starship is intact and is currently floating in the ocean and sending back telemetry data!" According to Jiemian News, the launch covered key processes such as real payload deployment, laser communication verification, insulation tile status monitoring, booster recovery and spacecraft re-entry, all of which are verification of core technical capabilities in future commercial operations. Unlike previous test flights that only carried counterweight simulators, in this mission, the cargo bay of the Starship spacecraft was loaded with 20 functioning third-generation Starlink V3 satellites. This is regarded by the industry as a landmark test flight for the starship to transition from prototype testing to commercial transportation. The starship can carry 60 V3 satellites when fully loaded. A single launch can add 60Tbps bandwidth to the constellation. The transportation capacity is equivalent to 40 times that of Falcon 9, and it can lay a massive amount of near-Earth network bandwidth at one time. The success of this test may indicate that V3 satellites will officially enter the stage of large-scale orbital deployment. In the future, it will directly promote the leapfrog upgrade of the broadband carrying capacity of Starlink's entire network and support the extension of Starlink satellite Internet from remote rural markets to wider densely populated areas. Starship is about 120 meters long and consists of the first-stage booster "Super Heavy Thruster" and the second-stage spacecraft "Starship". It is currently the largest and most powerful launch vehicle in human history. It can send more than 100 tons of items into orbit at one time. It is also a completely reusable rocket.

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