Starship finally makes orbit but engine trouble cuts the victory lap short

SpaceX deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites before bringing its planned ten-hour flight home after three

SpaceX's Starship reached orbit for the first time yesterday and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, although engine trouble cut short a planned six-orbit flight.

Super Heavy had problems of its own. All 33 Raptor 3 engines ignited at 07:48 CT, but one shut down during ascent. The booster later reignited 26 of the 28 engines planned for its boostback maneuver. During descent, it reignited 11 of the planned 13 engines for the high-thrust portion of its landing burn before stepping down to five and then three. It splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, after which its flight termination system was deliberately triggered to test the safety hardware.

More consequential was the premature shutdown of one of Starship's three vacuum-optimized Raptors during ascent. The remaining five engines burned longer to compensate, leaving the spacecraft on its planned suborbital trajectory. This ensured it would return to Earth even if controllers lost control, but also meant a further burn was required to enter orbit.

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Controllers then had to decide whether enough propulsion redundancy remained to perform both the orbital insertion maneuver and, crucially, the later deorbit burn. According to SpaceX, all three sea-level Raptors remained healthy, so controllers gave the go-ahead to relight one and complete the climb to orbit.

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After deploying the satellites, Starship began its coast around Earth, but controllers cut short most of the intended ten-hour flight "out of an abundance of caution." It performed its deorbit burn and splashed down in the North Pacific after about three hours. Unlike the Flight 13 vehicle, which survived its landing and was recovered, this one toppled over and exploded shortly after hitting the water.

Reaching orbit, deploying an operational payload, and executing a controlled deorbit represent major advances for Starship.

However the premature Raptor shutdown remains a concern given the launch cadence required for a lunar landing. NASA's inspector general said SpaceX's lunar architecture calls for a propellant depot followed by more than ten tanker launches, potentially at intervals of about six days. SpaceX has yet to demonstrate vehicle-to-vehicle propellant transfer in orbit.

That tanker campaign is not required for the revised Artemis III mission in 2027, which is now a docking demonstration in low Earth orbit rather than a lunar landing. SpaceX's contribution will be a single Version 3 Starship fitted with a docking system so that Orion can rendezvous with it; astronauts will remain aboard Orion.

Orbital refueling and the rapid succession of tanker launches will become critical for the first crewed landing, which NASA now assigns to Artemis IV in 2028. ®