SpaceX closed a troubled but instructive chapter in its Starship rocket program Monday with a near-perfect test flight that carried the stainless steel spacecraft halfway around the world from South Texas to the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX's upper-stage spacecraft made a soft, controlled landing on water at the end of its 11th test flight on Monday.

SpaceX has designs on expanding Starship operations to Florida at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, with plans for a launch by end of 2025. SpaceX is developing Starship specifically with a Martian destination in mind. The first ...

ESA and Avio signed the deal, worth 40 million euros ($47 million), on the sidelines of the International Astronautical Congress in Sydney. In a statement, Avio said it will "define the requirements, system design, and enabling technologies needed to develop a demonstrator capable of safely returning to Earth and being reused in future missions."

The update, shared in a series of photos Sept. 17 on social media, comes days after SpaceX recently tested the lower stage rocket booster, known as Super Heavy, at its Starbase facility. While it's unclear just when Starship could get off the ground again ...