SpaceX's Starship rocket reached orbit for the first time on Sunday, circling the Earth after a launch from the company's Starbase site in Texas. The 14th test flight began at 7:48 a.m. local time and marked the first attempt by the vehicle to complete a full orbital trip, a step that engineers have pursued since the program began.
The flight did not go to plan. An engine failed during the climb, but mission controllers pressed ahead with the burn needed to enter orbit. The ship climbed to roughly 275 kilometers and reached the speed of about 28,000 kilometers per hour needed to stay in orbit. The original plan called for six loops around the planet over nearly ten hours. The mission was cut short, and the ship was steered toward an early landing in the Pacific Ocean.
Earlier Starship flights were suborbital, with pieces of debris falling into the Indian Ocean. This time the ship released 26 next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit, and three of them carried cameras to record the heat shield during re-entry. Before the ship came down, it used flaps to bellyflop through the atmosphere, then burned up during its splashdown in the water.
The booster that launched the ship is due to be recovered in the Gulf of Mexico. Unlike some earlier attempts, it will not be caught by mechanical arms. A previous booster landing had failed after three of its engines iced up. The program has also faced setbacks, including an explosion in March 2025 and two later incidents involving loss of control and a ground explosion.
Experts describe reaching orbit as a milestone on the way to crewed lunar missions with NASA. Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX, has said the company's goal is fully reusable rockets, which he argues would cut costs and shorten the time between flights.
We rewrote this story on 4 November 2026 after an editorial review.
Credit. Based on reporting by Ian Sample for The Guardian. Is this your work? Write to us.
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