Starship reaches orbit despite engine loss

SpaceX's Starship launched from South Texas early Monday morning and reached Earth orbit for the first time. Shortly after upper stage separation, the rocket lost one of its six Raptor engines.

Company briefly halts then resumes mission

SpaceX initially called off the orbital attempt after the engine loss, but decided to keep pushing just a few minutes later. The rocket ultimately reached orbit successfully.

Twenty-six Starlink satellites deployed

Starship successfully deployed 26 new Starlink V3 satellites during the Monday flight and was able to connect to all 26. These upgraded satellites are more powerful than prior versions.

V3 satellites match twenty Falcon 9 flights

One full Starship launch of V3 satellites can add the same capacity to the Starlink network as 20 flights of the V2 mini versions that SpaceX flies on the Falcon 9 rocket.

Early deorbit after three hours in orbit

Roughly one point five hours into the flight, SpaceX decided to bring the upper stage back to Earth early instead of letting it orbit for around nine hours as originally planned.

“Flight teams will deorbit Starship safely to our pre-cleared area of the Pacific Ocean after 3 hours in orbit.”

Booster performs cleanest simulated landing

The Super Heavy booster stage separated from Starship and returned to the Gulf Coast, performing a simulated landing over the water. It was the cleanest simulated landing SpaceX has performed with the V3 version.

Third V3 test in two months

This was the third test of Starship V3, with each test happening around two months apart. It was also the second Starship launch since SpaceX went public in the largest IPO ever.

Louisiana Starbase to cost one hundred billion

SpaceX has inked a deal with Louisiana to build a new Starbase launch complex that dwarfs the existing one in Texas. The company plans to invest one hundred billion dollars with construction starting next year.