SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket entered orbit for the first time on Monday (Sept. 28), despite the shutdown of one of its engines, overcoming this obstacle in flight to launch the first batch of new Starlink satellites, as Elon Musk’s company plans to put the vehicle into regular service by the end of this year. A few minutes ago, it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile, at which point the rocket exploded. However, the mission—which was originally scheduled to last 10 hours but was limited to just three due to the engine problem—was successfully completed.
Splashdown confirmed. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the first orbital flight of Starship! pic.twitter.com/urjmiwnvNl
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
According to Reuters, the unmanned vehicle—40 stories tall and consisting of a “Super Heavy” booster with the main upper stage "Starship" at its tip, lifted off from the launch pad at SpaceX’s "Starbase" complex, located along the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville. The “Super Heavy” booster carried the “Starship” upper stage into space before returning to the waters of the Gulf for an engine-controlled splashdown, following two previous missions during which the booster had made hard landings.
Approximately two million X users tuned in to watch the rocket’s journey live via SpaceX’s official account. The space company posted many impressive shots from space. The explosion occurs at 3:44:17 into the broadcast.
Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept. 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → https://t.co/uQKQvgaTmJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2026
The unexpected issue with the Starship’s engine
However, there were some unexpected complications. As soon as it reached space, one of the “Starship’s” three main engines stopped working earlier than planned, a development that led SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot, to announce during the company’s live broadcast of the mission that the spacecraft would not be able to reach orbit. “The team decided not to pursue orbital insertion,” he said. However, he revised his statement after receiving an update from the engineers, which confirmed that the spacecraft could still attempt an engine ignition that would launch it into orbit, which Starship successfully accomplished a few minutes later. Once in orbit, Starship began deploying 26 next-generation Starlink satellites one by one to a planned altitude of approximately 269 km.
Starship, which was built to launch SpaceX’s Starlink satellites more frequently and to carry future NASA missions to the Moon, was expected to complete six orbits around Earth before splashing down.
Reaching orbit, a key milestone for any new rocket designed to carry payloads into space, was a long-delayed achievement for Starship, which Musk had once predicted would be accomplished in 2022, followed by satellite launches in 2023. Since 2023, however, all 13 of Starship’s previous test flights have been limited to suborbital space, despite a nearly decade-long development campaign that has cost SpaceX more than $15 billion to date. Musk has stated that he ultimately envisions launching hundreds or thousands of Starships per year, a launch rate unprecedented in the space industry. “Starship is 2 to 3 years away from hourly flights,” Musk wrote on X on Sunday.
Starship’s 14th flight and the new Starlink satellite network
Monday’s mission is technically considered Starship’s 14th test flight. However, it carried a batch of new Starlink internet satellites—likely worth millions of dollars—marking Starship’s first orbital payload.
Analysts estimate that today’s launch of SpaceX’s new V3 Starlink satellites is equivalent to hundreds of millions of dollars in projected revenue for the company’s Starlink division, based on the network’s additional customer capacity—highlighting Starship’s fundamental role in supporting the company’s core earnings.
According to SpaceX, the Starlink V3 satellites from Monday’s mission can handle 10 times more data than their predecessors, the V2 minisatellites, which the company launches in batches of 20 or 30 at a time using its Falcon 9 rockets, its primary launch vehicle. Seeking to expand his broadband satellite fleet at a faster pace, Musk wants to launch the higher-capacity V3 satellites in batches of 60 per launch, once Starship becomes operational — a goal he now aims to achieve by the end of this year.
Live views of Starship in orbit brought to you by @Starlink pic.twitter.com/JvmrSDVHg0
Advertisement— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
Additionally, Starship’s planned orbital debut comes three months after SpaceX went public with a record-breaking IPO (Initial Public Offering) that broke every record in June, making it the sixth-largest U.S. company by market capitalization and turning Musk—who founded the company in 2002— into the world’s first trillionaire. Much of SpaceX’s market value and investors’ continued confidence in the company — which was valued at $2 trillion at Friday’s close — depends on the success of Starship, which was designed to be the world’s first fully reusable spacecraft.
The silver rocket with its many fins has played a key role in achieving Musk’s ambitions to drastically reduce launch costs, significantly expand his Starlink operation, and deploy thousands of artificial intelligence data centers into orbit.
At the same time, Starship has played a pivotal role in NASA’s “Artemis” program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon’s surface for the first time since 1972 and to establish a long-term presence on the Moon as a stepping stone toward the eventual exploration of Mars by humans.
Source: Proto Thema
