SpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time Despite Engine Failure
STARBASE, TEXAS, UNITED STATES — WEB DESK: SpaceX’s next-generation Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time, marking a major milestone for Elon Musk’s giant rocket programme despite an engine malfunction that forced controllers to significantly shorten the mission.
The uncrewed Starship lifted off on September 28 from SpaceX’s Starbase complex near Brownsville, Texas. The flight was the 14th full-scale Starship test since 2023, following 13 earlier missions that had remained suborbital.
The spacecraft was initially scheduled to spend about 10 hours in flight and complete six Earth orbits. However, one of Starship’s three main engines shut down earlier than planned after the Super Heavy booster had propelled the upper stage into space.
The malfunction initially raised doubts about whether Starship could achieve orbit at all. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said during the company’s livestream that the team had decided not to commit to orbit, but engineers subsequently determined that the spacecraft could perform another engine firing. That manoeuvre successfully placed Starship into orbit.
Once there, Starship successfully deployed 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites at a planned altitude of roughly 269 kilometres. It was Starship’s first deployment of an operational orbital payload, giving the mission commercial significance beyond the test-flight programme.
SpaceX says the V3 Starlink satellites can handle around 10 times more data than the V2 Mini generation currently launched aboard Falcon 9 rockets. Starship’s much greater payload capacity is central to the company’s plans to rapidly expand its satellite broadband constellation.
Because of the engine issue, controllers shortened the planned 10-hour mission to approximately three hours. Starship subsequently re-entered Earth’s atmosphere and completed its planned return over the Pacific, while the Super Heavy booster had earlier carried out an engine-controlled splashdown in the Gulf.
The engine malfunction nevertheless remains significant. Reuters reported that the problem could add pressure to Starship’s development schedule because the spacecraft is central to NASA’s plans for future crewed lunar missions under the Artemis programme.
Starship is designed as a fully reusable launch system intended to carry large payloads, satellites and eventually astronauts. Beyond Starlink deployment, SpaceX sees the vehicle as central to future missions to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. NASA is also relying on a modified version of Starship as part of its lunar exploration architecture.
The successful orbital flight therefore represents a major technical step for SpaceX, but Flight 14 also demonstrated that substantial engineering challenges remain before Starship can enter routine and fully reusable operations.
