Starship reaches orbit for the first time and deploys 26 Starlink satellites
On its fourteenth test flight, Starship finally cleared the bar its predecessors could not: orbit, with a working payload aboard.
SpaceX launched Starship from its Starbase site in Texas at 8:49 a.m. EDT on September 28, and the upper stage became the first Starship to reach orbit, roughly 180 miles up. Once there it released 26 third-generation Starlink satellites, a design credited with roughly ten times the capacity of the version before it. One of the upper stage's six Raptor engines shut down early during the climb, and mission managers cut the planned six-orbit flight short, bringing the ship down in the Pacific north of Hawaii at 11:57 a.m. EDT. The Super Heavy booster splashed down a few miles off the Texas Gulf Coast after its boost-back burn.
Scripture for Reflection
“For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands.”
As our reach into the sky grows longer, we can let wonder rather than pride be our first response.