Musk's Starship Entered Earth's Orbit For The First Time

• 28.09.2026, 16:49

This is a crucial test ahead of future missions to the Moon and Mars.

SpaceX's Starship successfully entered Earth orbit for the first time. The launch was accompanied by an unexpected shutdown of one of the engines, but engineers decided not to abort the flight, according to the BBC (translation by Charter97.org).

During the live broadcast, SpaceX confirmed that the spacecraft had performed a maneuver to enter orbit. “We can see the spacecraft entering orbit,” they reported during the live broadcast.

This is the first time Starship has reached orbit during a test flight. The spacecraft is now set to orbit Earth six times, after which 26 Starlink satellites are scheduled to be deployed.

Shortly before reaching orbit, engineers had doubts due to a malfunction in one of the six engines. SpaceX debated whether to continue the mission or postpone it, since it becomes more difficult to return the spacecraft to a safe trajectory once it has entered orbit.

In the end, they did not cancel the launch, and Starship continued its flight according to the planned schedule.

This mission is of particular importance to SpaceX; Starship’s entry into orbit is considered one of the key milestones in the development of the rocket, which the company plans to use for future lunar and Martian missions.