“Starship performs its orbital insertion burn and enters orbit of Earth for the first time,” SpaceX announced on X at 9:15 a.m. ET, along with a video of that engine maneuver. It took just 25 minutes and 17 seconds for the spacecraft to travel from its launch pad in Starbase, Texas, to its circular orbit 170 miles high.
Starship is a two-part rocket. Standing 407 ft. on the launch pad, it is equipped with 33 first stage engines, which produce 16.7 million lbs. of thrust, making it far and away the most powerful rocket ever successfully launched—easily eclipsing NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and its 8.8 million lbs. Starship’s first stage represents 236 ft. of the overall stack. Atop it is the 171-ft. spacecraft—also dubbed Starship—a six-engine machine intended for satellite deployment and for crew travel.
“Congrats @SpaceX!” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman posted on X after SpaceX confirmed this morning’s orbital success. “Gorgeous launch, getting Ship to orbit and managing every step in a safe, responsible, and especially inspirational way. @NASA, along with the rest of the interested public, is excited to help where we can and for Starship missions to become routine!”
The launch this morning was both imperfect and stripped down to its orbital essentials. On the way up, one of the Starship’s six engines failed to burn properly, requiring the other engines to compensate for the missing thrust to get the ship in orbit.
Today’s launch was not just a test flight; it was also an operational mission designed to deliver 26 Starlink satellites to orbit, adding to the whopping 11,000 that already comprise the Starlink constellation—with an eventual goal of 100,000. SpaceX released footage of Starship deploying the satellites with what it has dubbed its Pez dispenser system, because that’s exactly what the spacecraft resembles as it releases its payload one satellite at a time. Ultimately, the spacecraft was brought down early, after just three orbits, since its satellites had all been deployed and the ship proved its flight worthiness quickly.
Still, SpaceX promises that an Earth-orbital launch that today is headline-making could become almost as commonplace as the takeoff of a commercial airliner. Elon Musk, the company’s founder and CEO, has spoken openly about Starships launching as frequently as once a day—or even once an hour. Maybe. For now the company is celebrating one launch on one day, on a mission that didn’t even last past east coast lunchtime. But spaceflight is iterative and incremental. And today SpaceX moved one big increment indeed.
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