SpaceX launched its 15th starship test flight on Friday, which marked the company's first attempt to simultaneously capture both the rocket's Super Heavy booster and the upper-stage spacecraft at the Starbase launch site in Texas.

This flight took off at 4:47 p.m. local time, which is 5:47 p.m. Eastern Time in the United States. Earlier on Friday, SpaceX obtained authorization from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of the United States. A few hours later, after reporting communication issues affecting “multiple” air traffic control centers, FAA issued a nationwide ground stop order. A spokesperson for FAA told CNBC that the launch permit for SpaceX was not affected by this ground stop.

SpaceX began test flights of this giant starship rocket in 2023, but the company had to abandon the plan to recover and reuse the boosters, opting instead to let them splash down into the sea.

The success of these starships is crucial for Elon Musk's company and is also related to its ambition to ultimately deliver goods and personnel to the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. In the short term, SpaceX needs to launch more satellites into orbit in order to expand its Starlink satellite internet service, which is currently the company's profit center.

During the test flight on Friday, SpaceX plans to send a batch of new Starlink v3 satellites into orbit. The company's constellation currently includes over 11,000 active satellites operating in low Earth orbit. SpaceX indicates that a single Starship rocket can send up to 60 Starlink v3 satellites into orbit, which is approximately 20 times the capacity of the previous Falcon 9 rockets.

During the last starship test flight, the company launched 26 Starlink v3 satellites, and plans to launch another 26 during the test flight on Friday. The goal is to make “Starlink account for 51% of the internet,” as stated in a post on X.

An analyst, identified as William Blair, wrote in a report on Friday that when it comes to launches, “SpaceX is likely to be a whole decade ahead of its peers in this regard.” “Even if tonight’s capture is not successful, delaying it for a few months is not that significant.”

At the same time, SpaceX is facing new criticism due to the restrictions on its Starshield satellite internet service in Ukraine. Starshield, based on Starlink technology, is the military-grade version of SpaceX satellite internet service.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy stated earlier this week that the country's military once again encountered restrictions on the use of Starshield without prior warning, which undermined their ability to defend against ongoing Russian airstrikes. Last month, Ukraine's Starshield was also temporarily subject to similar restrictions.

Some U.S. senators have condemned these restrictions and urged Congress to investigate SpaceX.