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WATCH: SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time on 14th Test Flight Despite Engine Issue
Coverage of the launch can be seen on Space Coast Daily TV
WATCH: SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time on 14th Test Flight Despite Engine Issue
STARBASE, TEXAS – SpaceX’s Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time Monday during its 14th test flight, overcoming an engine shutdown during ascent.
The uncrewed rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas. After one of Starship’s engines shut down prematurely, flight controllers assessed whether the spacecraft could continue toward orbit. They cleared it to proceed, and Starship completed an orbital insertion burn with a single Raptor engine about 26 minutes after liftoff.
Starship then deployed 26 next-generation Starlink satellites, its first orbital payload.
The Super Heavy booster separated earlier in the flight and made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX had planned a roughly 10-hour mission that would take Starship around Earth six times. Following the engine issue, the company shortened the flight and planned to bring the spacecraft out of orbit after about three hours.
The orbital flight marks a major step for Starship, whose previous 13 test flights followed suborbital paths. SpaceX is developing the vehicle to carry larger batches of Starlink satellites, while NASA plans to use a future version as a lunar lander for its Artemis program.
