SpaceX’s Starship has reached orbit for the first time and successfully deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, marking a major milestone for the company’s most ambitious rocket programme.
The Starship spacecraft lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas on Monday during its 14th test flight. The vehicle later completed a controlled re-entry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean after about three hours in space.
The flight was not without setbacks. The Super Heavy booster failed to relight all its engines as planned, although SpaceX said its practice landing over the Gulf ended in a relatively soft splashdown.
The upper-stage Starship also experienced an outage in one of its six engines. The problem initially raised the possibility that SpaceX might abandon its attempt to send the spacecraft into orbit.
Engineers, however, determined that the vehicle remained on a safe trajectory. Starship subsequently relit an engine, reached orbit and deployed all 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites.
The satellite deployment represents another significant step for the programme, as it was the first time Starship had successfully deployed operational satellites.
The spacecraft then began its return to Earth, entering the atmosphere at extremely high speed.
During re-entry, friction with the atmosphere generated intense heat, producing a bright plasma around the spacecraft. Starship’s heat shield is made up of about 20,000 hexagonal tiles designed to protect the vehicle from temperatures exceeding 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Starship performed a controlled landing burn over the Pacific Ocean, demonstrating a manoeuvre SpaceX hopes will eventually allow the spacecraft to return to land and be rapidly reused.
The splashdown was considerably more dramatic than the previous test in July, producing a large fireball over the water. However, the spacecraft appeared to remain at least partially intact after reaching the ocean.
SpaceX ultimately cut the mission short, bringing Starship home after roughly three hours rather than the planned 10-hour flight. The company said the decision allowed it to conclude the test after achieving key objectives.
The successful orbital flight comes as SpaceX faces pressure to advance Starship ahead of a crucial NASA test mission planned for next year.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX following the launch, as the company works toward developing Starship for future lunar missions.
The latest milestone also came exactly 18 years after SpaceX’s Falcon 1 reached orbit on September 28, 2008. Falcon 1 became the first privately developed, liquid-fuelled rocket to reach orbit after three failed attempts.
At nearly 400 feet (121 metres) tall, Starship is the largest rocket ever built and, in its Version 3 configuration, produces about 18 million pounds of thrust at liftoff.
The latest flight therefore represents an important step in SpaceX’s effort to develop a fully reusable launch system capable of carrying people and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon and eventually Mars.
For now, however, engineers still have to resolve the engine and re-entry challenges exposed during the test before Starship can move from experimental flights to routine operations.
