SpaceX launches giant Starship rocket on its first mission to Earth’s orbit

NEW TEXAS, September 28 – American aerospace company SpaceX has launched its giant Starship rocket from the company’s facility in Texas, marking the vehicle’s first operational mission to deploy satellites into Earth’s orbit.

The launch from the company’s Starbase facility in south Texas was the 14th flight of the Starship system, but the first aimed at reaching orbit, after 13 previous flights followed suborbital trajectories.

The mission carries 26 new-generation Starlink Version 3 satellites, which SpaceX plans to deploy into orbit during the flight. The satellites are designed to provide greater capacity for Starlink, the company’s satellite internet service.

Starship is the largest rocket developed by SpaceX and is designed to be fully reusable. The vehicle consists of a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and an upper-stage spacecraft called Starship.

SpaceX is developing this system to transport satellites, cargo and eventually people into Earth’s orbit, as well as to support future missions to the Moon and Mars.

The spacecraft is expected to orbit Earth about six times during a flight of nearly 10 hours, before firing an engine to leave orbit and concluding with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, west of Chile.

The company has stated that Starship will be needed to launch the larger Starlink satellites, which aim to increase the capacity of its growing satellite internet network.

The flight also represents a significant test of Starship’s ability to move from repeated suborbital test flights toward regular orbital missions.

SpaceX, founded by billionaire Elon Musk, plans to use Starship for future deep-space missions, including NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon, as well as future crewed flights to Mars.