SpaceX Starship has reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 Starlink satellites during its historic Flight 14 test.
SpaceX has achieved a major milestone with its Starship rocket. The massive spacecraft reached Earth’s orbit for the first time on Monday, September 28, 2026.
The historic flight took off from Starbase in Texas. It marked Starship’s 14th test flight after years of development and testing.
However, the journey was not completely smooth. One of Starship’s three main engines shut down earlier than planned after reaching space. That briefly put the orbital mission in doubt.
Engineers later confirmed that the spacecraft could continue. Starship then fired an engine and successfully entered orbit.
The biggest highlight came next. Starship successfully released 26 new Starlink satellites into orbit. This was the first time the spacecraft carried and deployed an orbital payload.
The new satellites can handle far more data than older Starlink models. SpaceX hopes Starship will eventually launch larger batches of them.
Still, the mission has another major hurdle. Starship must safely return through Earth’s atmosphere. The spacecraft will perform a controlled descent before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
SpaceX also hopes to use Starship for future Moon missions under NASA’s Artemis programme. The company also plans to use it for faster Starlink launches.
