SpaceX launches Starship on another test flight, this time with the most advanced Starlinks

SpaceX’s mammoth Starship rocket blasted off Friday on another test flight stretching halfway around the world, this time releasing 20 of the most advanced Starlinks.

Towering 407 feet (124 meters), Starship soared from the company’s base at the southern tip of Texas. NASA monitored the flight, a critical step toward using the Starship as a lunar lander for moon crews.

The hourlong journey ended with a splashdown so soft that the spacecraft remained afloat in the Indian Ocean as the SpaceX webcast drew to a close, drawing cheers from employees back at the launch site.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX had replaced six of the 33 engines on the first-stage booster after they failed to ignite last week, resulting in a last-second launch abort. The previous Starship flight in May also experienced engine trouble, which prevented the booster from making a controlled return.

This time, all of the engines fired at liftoff, but not enough of them lit back up for the booster's return, causing it to descend too fast and slam into the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft continued soaring eastward, popping out the Starlinks one by one 124 miles (200 kilometers) up before reentering.

It was the 13th flight of the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket, and the second this year of the new version dubbed V3. Like the previous demo, neither the booster nor spacecraft was meant to be saved, instead plunging into the sea.

The stainless steel, retro-looking spacecraft hovered upright over the Indian Ocean before dropping into the water, more than 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) from where the flight began. It was the best reentry yet, according to SpaceX, with the booster floating amid just a few flames.

“We're really pumped about this,” said SpaceX engineer Kate Tice, calling it “lucky flight 13.”

The Starlinks accomplished all their jobs before reentering over the Indian Ocean.

After being ejected from the Starship’s Pez-like dispenser, the Starlinks managed to communicate via lasers with older Starlink models already in orbit. With more than 10,000 Starlinks currently providing internet, SpaceX boasts the world’s largest satellite constellation.

Six of the newly launched Starlinks carried cameras that photographed Starship’s heat shield at flight's end, beaming back amazingly crisp shots even as the spacecraft bobbed in the ocean. The heat shield was also equipped with sensors to measure the extreme pressure placed on the spacecraft during launch. Most of the heat shield’s thermal tiles were black, but some were deliberately painted white to simulate missing tiles, part of an experiment to test the shield’s robustness.

“Excited for what will be learned from this mission,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on the social platform X.

SpaceX wants to make sure Starship’s heat shield can withstand the heat of entry before trying to return it to the Starbase launch pad near the Texas-Mexico border. The company already has used a pair of giant mechanical arms at the pad to capture a Starship booster. The company plans to do the same with the actual spacecraft, which is designed to be totally reusable.

NASA needs Starship to wrap up testing and reach orbit soon so the Artemis III astronauts — three Americans and one Italian — can practice docking their capsule with it next year.

Starship is also the vehicle with which Musk intends to build a city on Mars. He's already booking tourist trips to Mars, as well as the moon.

The latest test flight was delayed first by the July 16 launch abort, then again on Thursday by thick clouds from Tropical Storm Bertha.

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SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's Starship rocket lifts off for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's Starship rocket lifts off for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's Starship rocket lifts off for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The sun rises behind SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A seagull takes flight as SpaceX's Starship rocket is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Thursday, July 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SpaceX's mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight in Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

The sun rises behind SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

A man jogs past SpaceX's mega rocket Starship as it is prepared for a test flight in Starbase, Texas, Friday, July 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A United Nations committee on Friday inscribed a major archaeological site in the West Bank and a group of castles in southern Lebanon on the World Heritage List, despite objections from Israel, which had urged the committee to reject the bids.

The decision at a U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization meeting in South Korea came days after Israel’s Foreign Ministry urged the committee to reject efforts to designate the small West Bank town of Sebastia and the Lebanese castles, calling the nominations a “weaponization of cultural heritage.”

At their meeting in Busan, members of the UNESCO committee decided to place Sebastia and five castles in Lebanon’s Mount Amel area on both the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger after reviewing the nominations on an emergency basis, citing ongoing conflicts in the Middle East.

Sebastia, a hilltop town about 10 kilometers (6 miles) northwest of Nablus in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, is identified by scholars as ancient Samaria, capital of the biblical Kingdom of Israel. The area’s archaeological remains span the Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic periods. Christian and Islamic tradition holds that John the Baptist was buried there, according to a UNESCO website.

Sebastia’s nomination, first submitted by the Palestinian delegation to UNESCO in 2012, argued that World Heritage status was needed to help preserve the site, saying it remains largely undeveloped under Israeli control and requires additional conservation despite attracting tourists.

The designation comes as Israel, which does not recognize a Palestinian state, moves to expropriate large swaths of land around the site, even as it faces pressure to crack down on violence by Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territory.

The five castles in the Mount Amel region are recognized for their layered architectural heritage, combining Crusader, Ayyubid, Mamluk and local influences, reflecting the evolution of fortified architecture over nearly nine centuries, according to UNESCO. The designated sites include the Crusader-built Beaufort Castle, also known as Al-Shaqif, which Israeli forces seized in May during their deepest incursion into Lebanon in more than a quarter-century.

Adel Naim Daoud Atieh, a member of the Palestinian delegation to UNESCO, said the World Heritage designation rewards the perseverance of Sebastia’s residents, “who have protected this extraordinary site through generations, despite occupation, restrictions, and repeated attempts to separate them from their own heritage.”

Israel withdrew from UNESCO in 2019, accusing the organization of being biased against it and of downplaying its historical ties to the Holy Land. A member of the Israeli delegation, which is attending the Busan meetings as observers, said it was a “shame politicization has ruined UNESCO and led to mockery of history.”

In Tuesday’s statement, Israel’s Foreign Ministry accused the Palestinian delegation of waging a “hostile, one-sided campaign” at UNESCO by falsely portraying Sebastia as an area facing an emergency, calling the effort a political attempt to “erase the site’s profound, well-documented Jewish and Christian history.”

The ministry also objected to listing Beaufort Castle as a World Heritage Site as part of the nomination covering the five castles in the Mount Amel area.

The ministry said Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militant group, has turned the castle into a military stronghold by building tunnels beneath the site and launching rockets from the area, and accused UNESCO of ignoring those developments.

Asked about the Israeli claims, UNESCO said in a statement to The Associated Press that all nominations are evaluated under the same criteria, procedures and technical requirements, and that it does not take positions on political disputes. The Lebanese Embassy in South Korea declined to comment on Israel’s statement, but a Lebanese delegate at Friday’s meeting said the castles had been used “only for cultural and tourism purposes” since Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000 and accused Israeli media of portraying tourist facilities as military tunnels.

The UNESCO committee on Wednesday placed another Lebanese site, Tyre, an ancient Phoenician city in the southern part of the country, on the list of world heritage sites in danger. Tyre, Lebanon’s fourth-largest city, came under intense Israeli airstrikes in early June during Israel’s war with Hezbollah, before a ceasefire took effect later that month.

FILE - Roman-era columns stand at an archaeological site, which was lightly damaged in an Israeli strike nearby last week, in the southern port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Thursday, June 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

FILE - Smoke rises to the sky in an area near Beaufort Castle following an Israeli military strike in southern Lebanon as seen from northern Israel, Friday, June 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

FILE - A Palestinian visitor takes a photo at the Roman historical site in the West Bank town of Sebastia Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)