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Starship’s first successful orbital insertion! After deploying 26 Starlink satellites, it returned early
SpaceX’s Starship (Starship) has finally entered orbit. At 8:48 p.m. Taiwan time on September 28, Starship’s 14th test flight lifted off from SpaceX’s Texas Starbase. About half an hour later, it entered Earth orbit and deployed 26 third-generation Starlink (Starlink V3) satellites—marking the first time in the Starship program’s history that it truly reached orbit. Although SpaceX decided to end the mission early, Starship still completed its splashdown in the North Pacific at the end. On X, SpaceX announced: “Confirmed splashdown. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team for completing Starship’s first orbital flight!” After once declaring that it was abandoning the attempt, a few minutes later it reversed course and entered orbit again. The launch sequence was quite tense. According to a report from Space.com, during liftoff one of the six upper-stage engines shut down. A SpaceX spokesperson, Dan Huot, initially announced the cancellation of orbital insertion, but then changed his statement to say, “We haven’t given up yet.” The flight control team decided to continue the procedure. A few minutes later, Starship briefly ignited using a single Raptor engine and officially entered orbit about 25 minutes after liftoff.
Meanwhile, the lower-stage Super Heavy boosters completed a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about 7 minutes after liftoff. Although several engines shut down during flight, it did not affect the recovery. Musk wrote on X: “Starship’s first orbital flight successful!”
All 26 third-generation Starlink satellites deployed
After entering orbit, Starship released all 26 third-generation Starlink satellites within about 30 minutes. Three of them are equipped with cameras, which will look back and film Starship’s heat shield tiles to help engineers improve the thermal protection that will withstand the high temperatures during reentry.
SpaceX’s July 13th test flight also deployed third-generation Starlink, but that was a suborbital flight—the satellites quickly fell back to Earth. This time, it was the first batch of genuinely operational third-generation Starlink satellites.
According to CNBC, a Starship can carry 60 third-generation Starlink satellites—about 20 times the payload capacity of a Falcon 9. The third-generation satellites’ solar panels generate twice as much power as the previous generation, and data transmission is also faster.
Return early, splashdown in the North Pacific
The original plan was for Starship to stay in orbit for about 7.5 hours, with the entire mission lasting nearly 10 hours, before finally landing in the waters off Chile. However, according to Space.com’s live coverage, after evaluating Starship’s status at the first orbital check point, SpaceX decided to return early and instead conduct a splashdown in the North Pacific.
SpaceX has not yet explained the specific reason for the early return.
Starship completed its deorbit burn at 11:04 p.m. Taiwan time, reentered the atmosphere at about 11:34 p.m., and at 11:58 p.m. SpaceX confirmed the splashdown.
What this means for SpaceX: a key step for Starlink expansion
Whether Starship can reach orbit directly affects SpaceX’s commercial roadmap. CNBC noted that Starlink is SpaceX’s largest business and, as of the second quarter, the only one currently profitable. SpaceX is currently operating about 11,000 satellites in orbit. SpaceX also completed its largest-ever IPO in June, with a market value of about $2 trillion. SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell also said this month that the company plans to launch “AI computing satellites” using Starship in 2027—sending supercomputers into space. The brokerage firm CLSA (Lyon Securities) that same day initiated a “buy/raise” rating on SpaceX stock for the first time, with a target price of $250.
However, for Starship to be fully投入 into operations, there are still several hurdles: the upper-stage Starship has not yet attempted recovery using the launch tower’s mechanical arm; orbit refueling needed for Moon and Mars missions has also not been demonstrated. Previous reports said SpaceX expects Starship to achieve full recovery in 2027.
For readers in Taiwan, Starlink still cannot be applied for in Taiwan at present, but the deployment speed of the third-generation Starlink will determine the pace of expansion for this global low-Earth-orbit network.
This article: Starship’s first successful orbital insertion! After deploying 26 Starlink satellites, it returned early
First appeared at 。
Starship’s first successful orbital insertion! After deploying 26 Starlink satellites, it returned early
SpaceX’s Starship (Starship) has finally entered orbit. At 8:48 p.m. Taiwan time on September 28, Starship’s 14th test flight lifted off from SpaceX’s Texas Starbase. About half an hour later, it entered Earth orbit and deployed 26 third-generation Starlink (Starlink V3) satellites—marking the first time in the Starship program’s history that it truly reached orbit. Although SpaceX decided to end the mission early, Starship still completed its splashdown in the North Pacific at the end. On X, SpaceX announced: “Confirmed splashdown. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team for completing Starship’s first orbital flight!” After once declaring that it was abandoning the attempt, a few minutes later it reversed course and entered orbit again. The launch sequence was quite tense. According to a report from Space.com, during liftoff one of the six upper-stage engines shut down. A SpaceX spokesperson, Dan Huot, initially announced the cancellation of orbital insertion, but then changed his statement to say, “We haven’t given up yet.” The flight control team decided to continue the procedure. A few minutes later, Starship briefly ignited using a single Raptor engine and officially entered orbit about 25 minutes after liftoff.
Meanwhile, the lower-stage Super Heavy boosters completed a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about 7 minutes after liftoff. Although several engines shut down during flight, it did not affect the recovery. Musk wrote on X: “Starship’s first orbital flight successful!”
All 26 third-generation Starlink satellites deployed
After entering orbit, Starship released all 26 third-generation Starlink satellites within about 30 minutes. Three of them are equipped with cameras, which will look back and film Starship’s heat shield tiles to help engineers improve the thermal protection that will withstand the high temperatures during reentry.
SpaceX’s July 13th test flight also deployed third-generation Starlink, but that was a suborbital flight—the satellites quickly fell back to Earth. This time, it was the first batch of genuinely operational third-generation Starlink satellites.
According to CNBC, a Starship can carry 60 third-generation Starlink satellites—about 20 times the payload capacity of a Falcon 9. The third-generation satellites’ solar panels generate twice as much power as the previous generation, and data transmission is also faster.
Return early, splashdown in the North Pacific
The original plan was for Starship to stay in orbit for about 7.5 hours, with the entire mission lasting nearly 10 hours, before finally landing in the waters off Chile. However, according to Space.com’s live coverage, after evaluating Starship’s status at the first orbital check point, SpaceX decided to return early and instead conduct a splashdown in the North Pacific.
SpaceX has not yet explained the specific reason for the early return.
Starship completed its deorbit burn at 11:04 p.m. Taiwan time, reentered the atmosphere at about 11:34 p.m., and at 11:58 p.m. SpaceX confirmed the splashdown.
What this means for SpaceX: a key step for Starlink expansion
Whether Starship can reach orbit directly affects SpaceX’s commercial roadmap. CNBC noted that Starlink is SpaceX’s largest business and, as of the second quarter, the only one currently profitable. SpaceX is currently operating about 11,000 satellites in orbit. SpaceX also completed its largest-ever IPO in June, with a market value of about $2 trillion. SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell also said this month that the company plans to launch “AI computing satellites” using Starship in 2027—sending supercomputers into space. The brokerage firm CLSA (Lyon Securities) that same day initiated a “buy/raise” rating on SpaceX stock for the first time, with a target price of $250.
However, for Starship to be fully投入 into operations, there are still several hurdles: the upper-stage Starship has not yet attempted recovery using the launch tower’s mechanical arm; orbit refueling needed for Moon and Mars missions has also not been demonstrated. Previous reports said SpaceX expects Starship to achieve full recovery in 2027.
For readers in Taiwan, Starlink still cannot be applied for in Taiwan at present, but the deployment speed of the third-generation Starlink will determine the pace of expansion for this global low-Earth-orbit network.
This article: Starship’s first successful orbital insertion! After deploying 26 Starlink satellites, it returned early
First appeared at 。
