Crucial Flight! Starship Completes SpaceX's First Post-IPO Mission, Successfully Deploys V3 Starlink — Will Low-Earth Orbit Satellite Stocks Rebound?

On Saturday, June 25 at 6:51 AM Taiwan time, SpaceX ignited its Starship from Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, successfully launching its 13th test flight. This was the second flight of the third-generation Super Heavy V3 booster and SpaceX’s first Starship mission since its June Nasdaq listing.

Previously, a failed engine ignition led to an automatic abort, causing SpaceX’s market value to temporarily evaporate by approximately $100 billion. This success effectively stops the bleeding in the capital markets.

This time, SpaceX replaced ballast simulators with actual payloads—20 operational third-generation Starlink V3 satellites loaded into the cargo bay. After orbital insertion, the satellites deployed their solar panels and antennas. The test team successfully established radio frequency and laser links with all satellites and received telemetry data. About 20 minutes later, the satellites re-entered the atmosphere along a suborbital trajectory and were intentionally incinerated.

During flight, critical milestones were achieved, including in-space relight of the Raptor engine, heat shield tile monitoring, booster reverse burn, and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The V3 booster’s return to the Gulf of Mexico resulted in a slightly hard landing. Overall, the mission is seen by the industry as a watershed moment—transitioning Starship from prototype flights toward commercial and crewed operations.

Each V3 Starlink satellite weighs over 2 tons with a 60-meter wingspan when deployed—too large for Falcon 9’s fairing. Only Starship can carry them. Each satellite delivers 1 Tbps downlink capacity, 10.7 times that of the V2 Mini. A fully loaded Starship can carry 60 satellites, adding 60 Tbps per launch—equivalent to 40 times the capacity of Falcon 9.

With this successful validation, V3 satellite mass deployment is now imminent. Starlink’s leap from rural coverage to high-density urban bandwidth is no longer theoretical—it’s becoming operational reality.