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SpaceX\u2019s Starship rocket reached Earth orbit for the first time, though not without some drama along the way.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s mega-rocket launched into space from South Texas early Monday morning and the take off ticked all the early checkboxes for a successful launch. But shortly after the upper stage of the Ship separated, it lost one of its six Raptor engines. <\/p>\n
While Starship could still reach orbit if it loses an engine, the company initially called off the attempt, only to decide to keep pushing just a few minutes later.<\/p>\n
Reaching orbit is a critical milestone that could let SpaceX start using Starship for regular commercial missions, and, importantly, inch closer to its goal of making the mega-rocket fully reusable. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is orienting the entire company around Starship, which has become central to the company\u2019s plans to operate moon missions for NASA, and far-out ideas like putting data center satellites in orbit.<\/p>\n
Prior to the launch, SpaceX had planned to have the Starship upper stage orbit the Earth six times over nine hours while deploying 26 third-generation Starlinks into the satellite company\u2019s constellation of internet satellites. It\u2019s not immediately clear if any of that plan was changed due to the delayed entry into Earth orbit.<\/p>\n
The company was also able to make progress on returning the Super Heavy booster stage of the rocket back to its launchpad. After separating from the upper stage of Starship a few minutes into the flight, the booster returned to the Gulf coast and performed a simulated landing over the water. It was the cleanest simulated landing SpaceX has performed with the V3 version of Starship, which it started testing in May<\/a>.<\/p>\n This story is developing\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/em><\/p>\n