SpaceX puts Starship into orbit for the first time, deploys 26 Starlink satellites

SpaceX's Starship rocket achieved a historic milestone today, becoming the first time the vehicle successfully reached orbit on its 14th test flight. Departing from Starbase in South Texas at 8:49 a.m. EDT, the upper stage returned to the Pacific Ocean within three hours, ahead of schedule. During ascent, one of the six Raptor engines shut down early, but the flight control team deemed the ship otherwise intact.

About 25 minutes into the flight, a Raptor engine ignited to place Starship into a circular orbit around 170 miles above Earth. The Super Heavy booster, which did not attempt to catch up this time, experienced an engine failure and made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Once in orbit, Starship deployed 26 third-generation Starlink satellites over half an hour, with three carrying cameras to capture images of the heat shield tiles.

Each new satellite adds approximately 1 terabit per second of network capacity. CEO Elon Musk announced on X, "First orbital flight of Starship successful!" The flight plan initially predicted a 10-hour mission and splashdown off Chile, with a backup reentry zone north of Hawaii. After satellite deployment, the ship initiated its deorbit burn at 11 a.m. EDT and crashed into the ocean shortly after noon, burning as residual propellant ignited.

This marks the first successful orbital flight for Starship, a stark contrast to the previous 13 attempts that never reached orbit. The V3 version debuted on Flight 12 in May and saw 20 production Starlink V3 satellites launched on a suborbital path during Flight 13 in July. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman praised the launch as "gorgeous" on X. A Starship variant is essential for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon by 2028.

Starship remains untested in in-orbit refueling, and multiple tanker launches may be required before any lunar missions. SpaceX's first-quarter earnings, revealed in August, showed a $542 million operating loss and $1.08 billion spent on research and development, primarily for Starship.