On Monday morning, SpaceX’s Starship took off from Starbase, Texas, for its 14th flight. This recent launch was Starship’s first time reaching orbit. It even had a payload this time, launching 26 Starlink V3 satellites into space.

Managing Roadblocks into Orbit

Starship launches from Starbase, Texas; Photo: SpaceX

The Super Heavy booster started the trip by firing its 33 Raptor 3 engines over the Gulf of Mexico. One engine shut down on the way up, but the rocket kept going. It pulled off the hot-staging separation without a hitch, and Starship lit its six engines to push onward.

The booster then turned around to head back. It fired up 31 engines for a boostback burn. This part of the flight was purposely designed to burn up the remaining liquid oxygen in the main tank to test the booster’s limits for future return flights.

On the way down, it lit 11 engines, dropped down to five to fine-tune its path, and finally used three to splash down in the Gulf. Right after the landing burn, the team triggered the flight termination system to prove the safety hardware works.

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Starship had a small issue of its own. One of its vacuum engines quit early during the climb. So, the rocket just ran its remaining five engines longer to make up for the lost thrust. Once in a safe suborbital path, the control team checked the systems. The three sea-level engines looked healthy, so they gave the green light. Starship fired a single engine and officially entered orbit around Earth.

Delivering the Satellites and Heading Back

After cruising for a bit, Starship released all 26 Starlink satellites. SpaceX quickly made contact with each of them via laser links, ground stations, and user terminals. The satellites will now run some on-orbit checks and raise their altitudes before they start serving customers.

Because of the earlier engine trouble, the team played it safe and cut the orbital trip short.

Starship fired a single engine to pull itself out of orbit. It made it through atmospheric reentry, lit its three sea-level engines to flip, and splashed down right on target in the northern Pacific Ocean.