SpaceX launched its huge Spacecraft into orbit for the first time on Monday and successfully delivered the most advanced Starlinks yet, but cut the flight short to ensure safety.
The spacecraft re-entered over the Pacific and crashed north of Hawaii three hours after taking off from Texas. The company was aiming for a 10-hour flight, covering six complete laps around Earth, to prove it was ready to NASA Artemis Lunar Program.
The ship overturned and burst into flames during splashdown, a dramatic end to the mission.
Founder Elon Musk’s spacecraft almost failed to reach orbit when one of its engines shut down too early. But with everything else working fine and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided after several tense minutes to proceed as planned.
“The ship is orbital,” Mission Control announced to applause.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on reaching orbit and “managing each step in a safe, responsible and uniquely inspiring manner.”
Rocket carries 26 of Musk’s most advanced Starlink satellites
Musk’s flagship rocket – the largest and most powerful ever built – carried 26 of the latest Starlink satellites to join the 11,000 older models already providing internet service. They exited the spacecraft one by one, drawing more cheers from the SpaceX crowds watching from the Starbase, Texas, launch site.
The decision to end the flight early came shortly after. No reason was provided.
It was 14th full-scale launch of Starship from the southern tip of Texas in three years. The first test flights did not venture further than the Indian Ocean, on the other side of the world, often crash into flames and briefly flying through space.
This time, SpaceX intended to circle the globe at an altitude of 170 miles (275 kilometers) – not once but six times in nearly 10 hours, ending with a splashdown in the Pacific near Chile. As Starship reached the proper orbit by passing 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h), flight controllers chose to play it safe and bring it back several hours early, after only a few spins.
The first stage booster was also not supposed to return to the Starbase launch site, but rather to the Gulf of Mexico minutes after morning liftoff.
SpaceX wants to make sure everything works before bringing Starship back to Starbase. If the spacecraft crashes above earth and rains debris on people, “our popularity would decline very quickly,” Musk said at a business summit earlier this month. “That’s why we’re extremely careful here.”
Depending on the results of Monday’s orbital debut, the next spacecraft could return to the launch pad with giant mechanical arms grabbing the hovering spacecraft. If the trap works – Musk gives it equal or slightly better odds – then SpaceX will launch the spacecraft again by the end of the year or early next year.
The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket was designed from the ground up to be fully reusable – a key element in reducing launch costs. SpaceX successfully recovered the last spacecraft from the Indian Ocean in July. Engineers modified the newly launched Starship’s heat shield based on hands-on inspections of the recovered spacecraft, which is being returned to Starbase.
SpaceX wants Starship certified for orbital flight
SpaceX is pushing to certify Starship for orbital flight, a vital step towards traveling to the Moon and Mars.
NASA’s Artemis III mission will take place next summer, a triple docking exercise in orbit around Earth between an Orion capsule filled with astronauts and competing lunar landers. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Moon will take off first, then Orion – which will come closer for a link-up – then Musk’s spacecraft for a docking with Orion once Blue Moon is released.
The next mission – Artemis IV, planned no earlier than 2028 – would allow astronauts to land on the moon aboard Blue Moon or Starship, whichever is ready first. Subsequent shots at the moon will alternate between the two billionaires’ landers.
Musk initially developed Starship for Mars, intending to launch dozens of them with the Red Planet’s first settlers. For now, it plans to focus on the Moon and use Starship to truck satellites into orbit, eliminating the company’s more fragile Falcon 9 rocket within several years. A second Starship launch site is nearing completion at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center and a third is planned in Louisiana.
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