Starship glows with bright pink plasma — Saturday 23 May 2026SpaceX just pulled off another jaw-dropping feat with its Starship megarocket, lighting up the sky in a blaze of bright pink plasma during its twelfth test flight. The massive spacecraft, built right here in Texas, completed a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean even after losing one of its engines mid-flight. That fiery glow captured on video shows the intense heat of reentry, a critical hurdle for future missions that could one day carry American astronauts deeper into space. This latest run highlights SpaceX's rapid progress under Elon Musk's push to make the vehicle reusable and reliable. Despite the engine glitch, the ship managed a precise landing, proving it can handle real-world problems that would ground older rockets. For U.S. space goals, every successful test brings us closer to launching heavy payloads from Florida's Kennedy Space Center and supporting NASA's Artemis program to return humans to the Moon. The achievement also strengthens America's edge in the global space race, where private innovation like this outpaces traditional government timelines. With Starship glowing through plasma and splashing down safely, the path to Mars and beyond looks more realistic than ever from right here in the States.Watch the full video from CNN below.