Starship Makes It to Orbit and Drops Off 26 Starlink Satellites
SpaceX's giant rocket reached orbit for the first time on its 14th flight, even after one engine quit on the way up.
SpaceX's Starship reached orbit for the first time on Monday morning. The huge rocket lifted off from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas, on its 14th test flight and carried real cargo, 26 of the company's new Starlink V3 satellites.
An Engine Quit on the Way Up
The flight did not go exactly to plan. One of the ship's six Raptor engines shut down early during the climb. Flight controllers talked it over and decided to press on. A single Raptor then fired for about 19 seconds and pushed the ship into orbit about 170 miles above Earth.
Musk said all 26 satellites came out and were working normally. Three of them carried cameras to take pictures of the ship's heat shield tiles.
A Shorter Trip Home
Because of the engine problem, SpaceX cut the mission from nearly 10 hours to about 3. It also moved the splashdown from waters off western South America to the North Pacific near Hawaii.
The ship still flipped and fired its engines for a landing burn before breaking apart in the ocean, which SpaceX expected. Neither the booster nor the ship was meant to be saved on this flight.
What Comes Next
Reaching orbit with a real payload is the milestone Starship has chased for years. It opens the door to launching large groups of satellites at once, and it matters for NASA's plan to use Starship on future Moon missions.
Teslarati reports that Flight 15 could fly as soon as October 19, once SpaceX finishes looking into the engine shutdown.
Questions Readers Ask
Why does reaching orbit matter so much for Starship?
Every earlier flight stopped just short of orbit. Getting there with real cargo is the step Starship needs before it can launch big batches of satellites or help with NASA's Moon plans.
Will this make Starlink internet faster?
Not right away. The V3 satellites are larger than today's, so over time they could add more capacity for people who use Starlink at home.
Where This Came From
We confirmed the facts in this story against these reports. The words above are our own.
