SpaceX's Giant Starship Finally Made It to Orbit

SpaceX's Starship reached orbit around Earth for the first time early Monday morning after launching from South Texas. This was Flight 14, which lifted off in a window set to open at 8:15 a.m. ET on September 28, 2026, according to live launch coverage CNN.

The climb was not clean. The upper stage, the top part of the rocket that goes to orbit, lost one of its six Raptor engines soon after splitting from the booster below. SpaceX first called off the orbit attempt, then minutes later decided to continue, according to flight reporting TechCrunch. It is a bit like a six-engine plane losing one engine and still having power to keep flying.

That pause fits the plan. Starship first flew a safe, low path that would fall back harmlessly if controllers did nothing, while teams checked the ship before approving the trip to orbit SpaceX. The final push into orbit needed only one engine SpaceX. With five engines left, the ship kept enough backup for that push and for steering in space.

The test was long. The upper stage was to circle Earth six times over nine hours and drop off 26 third-generation Starlink satellites, SpaceX's internet satellites TechCrunch. A preflight briefing put the trip at nearly 10 hours CNN. The starting height was expected to be about 275 km, per SpaceX flight data.

The big lower booster, called Super Heavy, split off a few minutes in and headed back toward the Gulf Coast for a practice landing over water. SpaceX described that simulated catch and splashdown as the cleanest it has flown with the V3 version, the newest design it started testing in May.

Flight 14 had been aimed for as early as Tuesday, September 22, pending regulatory approval. The shift to September 28 kept a Monday morning slot and kept test flights moving after a summer spent checking V3. The plan to carry the first upgraded Starlink satellites dates to August planning.

Starting with Flight 14, Starship will begin flying orbital trips to carry Starlink V3 satellites and other cargo to space. The vehicle is designed to carry more than 100 metric tonnes to orbit in a fully reusable setup, meaning both parts are made to fly again.

The broader context here is a shift from showing Starship can launch to showing it can do useful work in space. Many rockets would have stopped after losing an engine. Starship waited on its safe path while controllers checked its health, then went to orbit on one engine. In my view, that response matters more than the satellite count on this flight. It tested backup strength, team decisions, and long flight in one mission.

Worth flagging for what comes next is time and reuse. Six loops over nine hours test fuel, heat, power, and contact with ground stations in ways short hops do not. A clean booster practice return, paired with an upper stage that still reached orbit after engine loss, gives SpaceX data it can use directly for cargo trips, faster Starlink launches, and quick reuse. I have seen this arc before. Rockets start fragile and single-use, then learn to handle trouble, then fly often. Starship just took a clear step forward.