Universe Today
SpaceX sent its Starship super-rocket on its first orbital flight — a shorter-than-planned test mission that put operational Starlink satellites into orbit for the first time.
The 407-foot-tall rocket rose from its launch pad at SpaceX's Starbase complex on the Texas coast at 7:50 a.m. CT (12:50 p.m. UTC) today and completed nearly two orbits. This was the 14th flight in the Starship test program, but all previous flights had been suborbital.
On its way up, one of the 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines on Starship's Super Heavy booster shut down prematurely. Despite the single engine failure, the climb to space proceeded as planned, and the booster executed a safe splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
One of the six engines on the upper stage, also known as Ship, also experienced an early shutdown. For a few minutes, SpaceX's team debated whether to go ahead with a follow-up orbital insertion burn or end the test flight without deploying satellites. The team decided to go ahead, and the 19-second burn proceeded smoothly.
"Starship is orbital," Mission Control declared, drawing cheers from SpaceX employees watching the live video feed.
During the mission's key orbital phase, Starship's satellite deployer worked like a giant Pez dispenser to push out 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, one after another, at an orbital altitude of 160 miles (270 kilometers). SpaceX previously deployed V3 satellites during a flight test in July, but because Starship didn't reach orbit on that flight, those satellites re-entered the atmosphere and burned up after a series of tests.
The V3 satellites are heavier than the current V2 Mini models. They're designed to enable data download speeds of roughly 1 terabit per second, which is about 10 times the capacity of SpaceX's existing constellation of more than 11,000 satellites. That additional capability will be key for SpaceX's future direct-to-device services — and to take full advantage, SpaceX will be transitioning to Starship from its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket.
"This one flight was like 20 Falcon 9 flights in terms of bandwidth," SpaceX commentator Dan Huot said.
Today's test flight was scheduled to last 10 hours, but SpaceX said the flight control team decided to shorten the mission "out of an abundance of caution, given the engine issue experienced during ascent." SpaceX shifted from its primary mission profile to a backup plan that sent the upper stage to a Pacific Ocean splashdown north of Hawaii a little more than three hours after launch.
The double splashdown was always part of the plan for today's mission. But for the next Starship test flight, SpaceX is reportedly considering having the second stage return directly to its launch pad, where it would be caught by a pair of giant mechanical arms. There might even be a double-catch, also involving the Super Heavy booster.
SpaceX has built two launch pads for Starship at Starbase Texas, and it's working on Starship launch facilities in Florida and Louisiana to accommodate what the company hopes will be a dramatic speedup in liftoffs. "Starship is 2 to 3 years away from hourly flights," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said on his X social-media platform.
In addition to deploying Starlink satellites, SpaceX plans to use Starship for trips to the moon, Mars and other destinations beyond Earth orbit. At the same time, other commercial space ventures are counting on Starship to lower the cost of access to space and boost their own business plans.
NASA is counting on Starship as well: Next year, the space agency expects to test a Starship lander as well as Blue Origin's Blue Moon lander in Earth orbit during its Artemis 3 mission, in preparation for a crewed landing on the moon that could take place in early 2028.
In a post to X, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on a successful flight test. "Gorgeous launch, getting Ship to orbit and managing every step in a safe, responsible and especially inspirational way," he wrote. "NASA, along with the rest of the interested public, is excited to help where we can and for Starship missions to become routine!"
