SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time

SpaceX launched its Starship megarocket into orbit for the first time on Monday, a landmark achievement for the largest and most powerful rocket ever built and a critical step toward NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the Moon. The 407-foot (124-meter) vehicle lifted off from the company’s Starbase facility at Boca Chica Beach, Texas, at 7:48 a.m. CT, reached orbital speeds of roughly 17,500 mph, deployed 26 next-generation Starlink satellites, and splashed down intact in the northern Pacific Ocean about three hours and eight minutes later, according to NPR.

“Starship is orbital,” mission control announced as cheers erupted at the Texas launch site, per Al Jazeera.

A Milestone Three Years in the Making

The flight, designated Flight 14, was the 14th full-scale test of Starship over three years and the third to use the more mature Version 3 iteration of the vehicle. Every prior test had been suborbital, venturing no farther than the Indian Ocean and often ending in fireballs. This time, the ship completed the first orbital insertion burn and the first deorbit burn in the program’s history, according to SpaceX’s official mission page.

The mission also marked the first operational orbital deployment of SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. The 26 spacecraft released during the flight are far larger than earlier models and can only be launched aboard Starship, joining roughly 11,000 older satellites already providing global internet service. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said the constellation could eventually grow to about 100,000 satellites.

An Engine Anomaly, and a Decision to Press On

The flight was not without drama. Shortly after liftoff, one of the six Raptor engines on Starship’s upper stage shut down prematurely during ascent, raising doubts about whether SpaceX would attempt orbit at all. A single booster engine also shut down during the initial climb. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot initially told viewers the orbital attempt had been called off before flight controllers reversed course.

“We are not giving up yet,” Huot said, according to Space.com. “We will continue to hang out.”

About 25 minutes after liftoff, after burning the remaining five engines longer to compensate for the lost thrust, Starship ignited a single Raptor engine to enter orbit. “First orbital flight of Starship successful!” Musk wrote on X.

Mission Cut Short

SpaceX had planned a roughly 10-hour, six-orbit flight at an altitude of about 170 miles (275 kilometers), ending with a splashdown near Chile. But after the ascent anomaly, flight controllers chose to limit time in orbit and bring the vehicle down early, targeting a pre-cleared landing zone in the northern Pacific north of Hawaii.

“Out of an abundance of caution given the engine issue experienced during ascent, the flight control team decided to limit the duration spent on orbit and proceeded with deorbiting Starship to a splashdown location in the northern Pacific Ocean,” the company said in a blog post cited by SpaceX.

The ship deployed all 26 satellites roughly 34 minutes into the flight, with contact established with each one. Three of the satellites carried cameras to capture imagery of Starship’s heat shield during reentry — data that engineers will study as they work to make the vehicle reliably reusable. The flight ended with a successful powered landing and flip maneuver before splashdown; the ship then toppled and exploded in the water, as Fox 26 Houston reported.

The Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, performed a controlled ocean splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff rather than returning to its launch tower. Upon landing burn shutdown, its flight termination system was triggered in a safety demonstration.

Why It Matters

The flight represents a turning point for a vehicle central to both SpaceX’s commercial future and NASA’s ambitions beyond low Earth orbit. NASA has selected Starship as the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis program, with Artemis III slated as soon as mid-2027 and a crewed lunar landing potentially on Artemis IV no sooner than 2028. Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander is also under contract, and which vehicle carries astronauts will depend on which is ready first.

Starship’s importance to SpaceX itself is just as great. In filings ahead of its June 2026 initial public offering, the company warned that “any failure or delay in the development of Starship at scale or in achieving the required launch cadence, reusability and capabilities thereafter would delay or limit our ability to execute our growth strategy.” Starship is the only rocket capable of launching the larger V3 Starlink satellites that anchor the company’s broadband business.

What to Watch Next

Significant milestones remain before Starship is flight-ready for its most ambitious missions. SpaceX has yet to attempt catching the Ship upper stage with the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms, a maneuver it has completed three times with Super Heavy. If the next catch succeeds — Musk gives it roughly even odds — the company plans to re-fly a spacecraft by the end of this year or early next.

Off-Earth refueling, which will require multiple tanker launches to fuel a Starship in orbit, has not been demonstrated, and neither has a life-support system for crew. SpaceX is also expanding: a second Starship launch site is nearing completion at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, and a third is planned for Louisiana as part of a $100 billion investment, a project that has drawn concern from some local residents.

Monday’s flight answered the biggest open question in the program — whether Starship can reach orbit. The answer, at least for now, is yes.