SpaceX's Starship rocket reaches orbit for first time

SpaceX has launched its enormous Starship into orbit for the first time, aiming aiming for six full laps around Earth to prove its readiness for NASA's Artemis moon program.

The spacecraft almost didn't achieve the long-desired goal in its Monday launch, after one of its engines shut down too soon. 

But with everything else working well and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided after several tense minutes to proceed as planned.

"Starship is orbital," Mission Control announced to cheers.

Founder Elon Musk's showpiece rocket — the biggest and most powerful ever built — carried 26 of the latest and most advanced Starlink satellites to join the 11,000 older models already providing internet service.

It was Starship's 14th full-scale launch from Texas' southern tip in three years. 

The earlier test flights ventured no farther than the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, often crashing in flames and briefly skimming space.

This time, SpaceX was intent on circling the globe from an altitude of 275 kilometres — not just once but six times over almost 10 hours, ending with a Pacific splashdown near Chile.

The reusable rocket

If all goes well with this orbital debut, the next Starship will return to the launch pad with giant mechanical arms grabbing the hovering spacecraft. 

The 124-metre rocket was designed from the start to be fully reusable — a key to lowering launch costs.

If the spacecraft breaks apart over land and rains debris onto people, "our popularity would diminish very rapidly", Mr Musk said at a business summit earlier this month. 

"That's why we're being extremely cautious here."

If the catch works — Mr Musk gives it even or slightly better odds — then SpaceX will re-fly the spacecraft by year's end or early next.

SpaceX is pressing hard to certify Starship for orbital flight, a vital step toward moon and Mars travel.

Mr Musk originally developed Starship for Mars, intending to launch scores of them with the red planet's first settlers.

For now, he plans to focus on the moon and use Starship to haul satellites into orbit by the truckload — phasing out the company's frailer Falcon 9 rocket within several years. 

NASA's Artemis IV mission, slated for no sooner than 2028, would have astronauts landing on the moon in either Jeff Bezos' Blue Moon or Mr Musk's Starship, whichever is ready first.