SpaceX’s Starship Reaches Orbit for the First Time on 14th Test Flight

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket has reached Earth orbit for the first time, clearing the biggest development hurdle yet in the vehicle’s long and expensive test campaign.

The uncrewed, roughly 40-storey-tall vehicle lifted off from the company’s Starbase complex near Brownsville, Texas, at about 7:46 a.m. local time on Monday, according to Reuters. It was the 14th test flight of Starship; all 13 previous flights since 2023 had remained confined to suborbital trajectories.

Once in space, the ship deployed 26 next-generation Starlink V3 internet satellites — the rocket’s first operational payload. Three of the satellites also carried cameras to record images of Starship’s exterior, according to Spaceflight Now.

The flight was not without drama. One of the six engines on the Starship upper stage shut down during ascent, NPR reported, and flight controllers spent about 20 minutes studying the data before deciding it was safe to continue into orbit.

Mission managers later shortened the planned 10-hour, six-orbit voyage to about three hours, and Starship splashed down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile, Florida Today reported. Neither stage attempted a tower catch; the Super Heavy booster instead simulated an ocean landing in the Gulf of Mexico.

Reaching orbit is a long-delayed milestone — SpaceX founder Elon Musk once predicted it would happen in 2022 — for a programme that has cost the company more than $15 billion, according to Reuters. Musk hailed the flight as a success in a post on X. Starship is intended to launch upgraded Starlink satellites commercially and to carry future NASA missions to the Moon.

Sources:

Reuters – “SpaceX’s Starship launches on 14th flight, first headed to orbit”

NPR – “SpaceX’s Starship launches on first orbital mission from Texas”

Florida Today – live updates: Starship’s first orbital flight