Q&A with Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX (members only)

While re-entry heating damaged a protective “skirt” around the the engine bay of the upper stage Starship, along with partially melting a control flap near its hinge, the vehicle remained under control throughout and made it all the way to a powered splashdown in the Indian Ocean as planned.

These photos show the 215-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft on pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, ready for launch on a test flight to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken when weather cooperates.

Watch as NASA holds a briefing at the Kennedy Space Center on the four agency technology payloads that are part of the STP-2 mission flying into orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket.