SpaceX's Starship lifts off on 14th flight, reaches orbit for first time

SpaceX's next-generation Starship rocket lifted off from its Starbase complex in Texas on Monday, marking the vehicle's 14th launch and its first flight to orbit, along with an initial operational release of satellites.

The uncrewed vehicle, a 40-story-tall stack made up of a Super Heavy booster topped by the Starship upper stage, blasted off at about 7:46 a.m. Central Time (1246 GMT) from the site along the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville.

During the mission, Starship was expected to complete six orbits of Earth over a roughly 10-hour voyage — its longest to date — before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

Reaching orbit is a key milestone for any rocket designed to carry payloads to space, and it had been a long-delayed goal for Starship. The company had once projected the feat for 2022, with satellite deployments to follow in 2023.

Instead, all 13 of the vehicle's previous test flights since 2023 remained within suborbital space, even as development has stretched nearly a decade and cost more than $15 billion.

SpaceX envisions eventually flying hundreds or thousands of Starships each year, a launch cadence without precedent in the space industry. The rocket is designed to loft the company's Starlink satellites more frequently and to support future NASA missions to the moon.