From Joe Tegtmeyer.

SpaceX launched the 6th test flight of Starship on 19 November 2024 with a host of objectives to continue the development of this new launch vehicle that is nothing short of the largest and most powerful rocket ever created. Each flight has built on the last, with more confidence in the design which includes successful hot staging, booster return and catch by the launch tower, ship relight of the raptor engines in orbit, successful reentry through the atmosphere and pin-point controlled soft landings in the Indian ocean.

The only milestone not achieved in this test flight was a repeat catch by the launch tower, and this was due to a communications mast on the top of the launch tower becoming dislodged and leaning over when a guy wire broke during the launch. Per SpaceX, the loss of communications to the tower meant they could not be certain of a successful catch, so commanded the healthy & nominally operational booster to divert for a water landing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Despite the lack of the booster catch, a lot of data was collected by the Starship team, including how the divert operation and landing worked out, and I think this was a great opportunity to gain valuable data for this flight profile as well.

Overall, the mission was again highly successful and pushed the envelope towards more refinement and greater capabilities of future Starships.

Flight 6 also was the end of the first variants of the Starship and now, version 2 will be next up with many significant changes, some visible and many on the inside.

Thank you for watching and I hope you found this review helpful and informative!