Starship reaches Earth orbit for the first time and completes its satellite deployment despite losing a Raptor engine during ascent
SpaceX (SPCX) reached a major milestone Monday as Starship entered Earth orbit for the first time and successfully deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites carried aboard the spacecraft.
The mission demonstrated the resilience of SpaceX’s next-generation launch system after Ship 41 lost one of its six Raptor engines during ascent. Despite the engine failure, Starship completed its ascent burn and continued along what SpaceX described as a “passively safe suborbital trajectory” while engineers evaluated the spacecraft’s systems.
At 9:11 a.m. ET, mission controllers gave the “Go for orbit” command, clearing Starship to continue the flight. The spacecraft subsequently began releasing its payload of 26 Starlink V3 satellites.
By 9:54 a.m. ET, SpaceX confirmed that the deployment had been completed and all 26 satellites had successfully reached orbit.
The mission represents an important step forward for both the Starship program and SpaceX’s rapidly expanding Starlink network. Starship is being developed as a fully reusable heavy-lift launch system capable of carrying significantly larger payloads than the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Successful deployment of Starlink V3 satellites also highlights Starship’s potential role in expanding SpaceX’s broadband constellation. The larger V3 spacecraft are designed to provide greater network capacity, making Starship’s payload capability increasingly important as SpaceX works to scale Starlink globally.
Monday’s flight demonstrated that Starship could complete critical mission objectives even after encountering an engine problem during ascent.
