SpaceX’s Starship reaches orbit despite engine failure
• Uncrewed vehicle deploys 26 next-generation Starlink satellites; orbital milestone achieved after 13 test flights
• Early engine shutdown prompted SpaceX to briefly rule out orbit before reversing course
STARBASE: SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket reached orbit for the first time Monday despite having one of its engines down, overcoming the mid-flight hitch to deploy the first batch of new Starlink satellites.
The uncrewed 40-storey-tall vehicle, consisting of a Super Heavy booster rocket topped by the main upper-stage Starship vessel, thundered off its launch pad from SpaceX’s Starbase complex along the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville.
Elon Musk’s company plans to put the vehicle into routine use starting later this year.
The Super Heavy booster lofted the Starship upper stage into space before returning itself to Gulf waters for an engine-controlled splashdown, following hard landings for the booster on two previous missions. Upon reaching space, one of Starship’s three main engines shut down earlier than planned.
This development led SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot to announce on the company’s live stream of the mission that the craft would be unable to reach orbit.
“The team has made the call not to commit to orbit,” Huot said.
But Huot reversed course minutes later after an update from engineers confirmed that the craft could still attempt an engine firing. Starship successfully boosted into orbit minutes later.
Once in orbit, Starship began deploying 26 next-generation Starlink satellites one by one at a planned altitude of roughly 269 kilometres. According to SpaceX, the V3 Starlink satellites on Monday’s mission can handle 10 times more data than their predecessor V2 mini-sats.
Reaching orbit, a primary benchmark for any new rocket designed to deliver payloads to space, has been a long-delayed feat for Starship.
Since 2023, all 13 of Starship’s previous test flights have been limited to suborbital space.
Starship’s planned orbital debut comes three months after SpaceX went public with a record-shattering initial public offering in June that made it the sixth-biggest US company by value.
Much of SpaceX’s market worth and continued investor confidence — valued at $2 trillion as of Friday’s close — rides on the success of Starship, designed as the world’s first fully reusable spacecraft.
Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2026
