SpaceX’s Starship rocket has reached Earth orbit for the first time and launched the first batch of next-generation Starlink satellites into space. Reuters reports.
The launch took place on the morning of 28 September from the Starbase complex launch pad on the Gulf of Mexico coast near Brownsville.
On board Starship were 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites. After reaching space, they were successfully deployed into orbit at an altitude of about 269 km above Earth.
SpaceX initially planned for Starship to complete around six orbits of Earth over roughly 10 hours. However, after reaching space one of the engines shut down prematurely, so the company’s specialists decided to deorbit the spacecraft early.
The flight lasted about three hours. After the mission was completed, Starship successfully splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
This launch was Starship’s 14th test flight and the first in which the spacecraft reached orbit. In the previous 13 tests, the rocket flew a suborbital trajectory and returned to Earth without completing a full orbit of the planet.
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever launched into space. SpaceX sees it as a key vehicle for deploying heavy Starlink satellites and, in the longer term, for transporting people and cargo to Mars.
- SpaceX announced plans to build its largest rocket launch complex to date in southern Louisiana in the United States, costing $100 billion. It will serve as a base for launching Starship spacecraft and the company’s artificial-intelligence satellites.