SpaceX's Starship rocket reaches orbit with its first operational payload

The Starship rocket, launched yesterday from the Starbase facility on the Gulf of Mexico coast of the US-based aviation and space company SpaceX, owned by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, managed to reach Earth orbit on the flight carrying its first operational load and successfully deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit. However, it was decided that Starhip's mission, which was expected to last 10 hours, would end 7 hours earlier than planned due to engine failure. The giant rocket landed in the Pacific Ocean 3 hours and 8 minutes after launch.

All of the previous 13 test flights of Starship, whose development process has been going on for about 10 years and cost the company more than 15 billion dollars, since 2023, were limited to suborbital altitude. The goal of "reaching orbit", achieved in the 14th test flight, is considered a critical threshold for new rockets designed to carry payload into space. Despite the engine failure and the decision to terminate the mission early, important milestones were achieved in Starship's 14th test flight.

Elon Musk states that they ultimately aim to reach an unprecedented transportation speed in the space industry by launching hundreds or thousands of Starships per year. SpaceX calls Starship "the world's most powerful launch vehicle ever developed."