SpaceX successfully deploys the Star man (opens in new tab)

Actually, no, once the 2nd stage cuts off the trajectory is mostly fixed and we know what orbit it is in. There are, I believe, two more small burns that will be done to adjust the trajectory, but these are more of an adjustment to what kind of Martian transfer orbit it is in. It already has the hyperbolic velocity to leave Earth's orbit, and enter solar orbit with an apogee at the same distance as Mars.

In 6.5 hours SpaceX will have finished everything they wanted to test with this flight I believe, including a number of post-launch checks of various systems and sensors on the payload, and those re-ignition tests of the 2nd stage.

'made it to mars orbit' is a weird way of saying it too - it will be going out as far as mars is, but it won't be orbiting mars - it will be orbiting the sun.

It suffered a rapid unscheduled disassembly, unfortunately

It is not a Mars orbit. It's an orbit around the sun which reaches into the same orbital path Mars has. It will not interact with the planet in that way.

That's the plan, but this article is way too premature and the title is a little misleading. They want to put it into solar orbit at Mars' distance.

However, they are going to wait 6 hours to fire the second stage for a third burn which would actually put it in orbit. They want it to be exposed to radiation and test how well the booster holds up before the final burn.

No, it's a Martian transfer orbit, albeit without Mars at the other end.

This could refer to the signal, not the actual rocket. They might have lost it, but it isn't certain yet.

This could reference the video feed, was before 1&2 landed?