SpaceX’s Starship rocket has successfully blasted off and reached orbit for the first time during a landmark test flight.

Launching on schedule at 8:50 a.m. EDT from SpaceX’s Starbase launch site on the Boca Chica peninsula in South Texas, Starship entered orbit about 170 miles (275 kilometers) above Earth ay 09:15 a.m. EDT. A last-minute call was made to proceed to orbit after one of its 33 Raptor engines failed during ascent but was deemed not to pose a threat to the mission. The burn to orbit took 19 seconds.

Starship will now complete around six orbits during a flight lasting nearly 10 hours, allowing SpaceX to test the spacecraft in the space environment for far longer than on previous flights. Starship test flights so far have lasted around an hour.

The mission will attempt to deploy 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites. Starship’s Super Heavy booster, meanwhile, completed launch, ascent and stage separation before splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Starship Flight 14 Begins A New Orbital Era

Flight 14 marks the start of a new development phase for the 407-foot (124-meter) tall Starship. Its first 13 test flights followed deliberately suborbital trajectories, but reaching orbit will allow SpaceX to begin testing the spacecraft on longer and increasingly ambitious missions.

Some of Flight 14’s biggest tests are still to come. After reaching orbit, Starship will attempt to deploy its 26 Starlink V3 satellites before continuing around Earth. At the end of the mission, Starship will perform a deorbit burn using a single Raptor engine, with Starship making a controlled reentry through Earth’s atmosphere before targeting a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

SpaceX ultimately intends Starship to become a reusable transportation system capable of carrying satellites, cargo and people into space. The two-part vehicle, consisting of Starship and its Super Heavy booster, is designed to eventually carry more than 100 tons of payload to destinations including the moon and Mars, according to SpaceX .

Starlink Satellites Prepare For Deployment

Each Starlink V3 satellite is designed to add around 1 terabit per second of capacity to the Starlink constellation. In total, that’s roughly 10 times the capacity carried on a Falcon 9 launch of Starlink V2 Mini satellites, according to SpaceX . The company expects the new Starlink V3 satellites to begin serving customers within weeks after completing on-orbit checks.

Three of the Starlink V3 satellites are equipped with cameras designed to observe Starship’s heat shield and send imagery back to engineers during the remainder of the flight.

SpaceX Starship vs SpaceX Falcon 9

SpaceX currently uses the Falcon 9 rocket to launch satellites to bolster its Starlink satellite internet constellation, but plans to switch to Starship. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched 165 times in 2025.

Starship is the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built. According to SpaceX , its fully reusable Starship transportation system could eventually move people and cargo anywhere on Earth in about one hour or less. The concept relies on rapid reusability, with both the Starship spacecraft and its Super Heavy booster designed to launch, land and fly again in a short space of time. The company estimates that London to New York could take just 29 minutes, Los Angeles to Tokyo 37 minutes and Sydney to London 51 minutes — potentially cutting today’s long-haul flight times by more than 90%.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.