SpaceX launched its enormous Starship into orbit for the first time on Monday, aiming for six full laps around Earth to prove its readiness for NASA’s Artemis moon program.
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SpaceX → launch → program
The spacecraft almost didn’t achieve the long-desired goal after one of its engines shut down too soon.
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one → achieve → engines
But with everything else working well and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided after several tense minutes to proceed as planned.
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controllers → work → minutes
“Starship is orbital,” Mission Control announced to cheers.
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Control → announce → cheers
Founder Elon Musk’s showpiece rocket – the biggest and most powerful ever built – carried 26 of the latest and most advanced Starlink satellites to join the 11,000 older models already providing internet service.
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rocket → build → service
They popped out of the spacecraft one by one, drawing more cheers from the SpaceX crowds looking on from the launch site at Starbase, Texas.
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They → pop → Starbase
The earlier test flights ventured no farther than the Indian Ocean halfway around the world, often crashing in flames and briefly skimming space.
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flights → venture → space
This time, SpaceX was intent on circling the globe from an altitude of 170 miles (275 kilometres) – not just once but six times over almost 10 hours, ending with a Pacific splashdown near Chile.
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SpaceX → circle → Chile
The first-stage booster wasn’t meant to return to the Starbase launch site either, instead dropping into the Gulf of Mexico within minutes of the morning liftoff.
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booster → mean → liftoff
SpaceX wants to ensure that everything works before flying Starship back to Starbase.
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everything → want → Starbase
If the spacecraft breaks apart over land and rains debris onto people, “our popularity would diminish very rapidly,” Musk said at a business summit earlier this month.
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Musk → break → summit
“That’s why we’re being extremely cautious here.”
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we → ’ → ?
If all goes well with this orbital debut, the next Starship will return to the launch pad with giant mechanical arms grabbing the hovering spacecraft.
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arms → go → spacecraft
If the catch works – Musk gives it even or slightly better odds – then SpaceX will re-fly the spacecraft by year’s end or early next.
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SpaceX → work → end
The 407-foot (124-metre) rocket was designed from the start to be fully reusable – a key to lowering launch costs.
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rocket → design → costs
SpaceX managed to salvage the last Starship from the Indian Ocean in July.
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SpaceX → manage → July
Engineers modified the newly launched Starship’s heat shield based on hands-on inspections from the recovered spacecraft, which is being tugged back to Starbase.
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which → modify → Starbase
SpaceX is pressing hard to certify Starship for orbital flight, a vital step toward moon and Mars travel.
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SpaceX → press → travel
NASA’s Artemis III mission is coming up as soon as next summer, a triple-launch docking exercise in orbit around Earth between an Orion capsule full of astronauts and competing lunar landers.
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mission → come → astronauts
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Moon will blast off first, then Orion – which will close in for a linkup – then Musk’s Starship for a docking with Orion once Blue Moon launches.
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Moon → blast → Orion
The next mission – Artemis IV slated for no sooner than 2028 – would have astronauts landing on the moon in either Blue Moon or Starship, whichever is ready first.
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whichever → slat → Moon
Subsequent moonshots will alternate between the two billionaires’ landers.
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moonshots → alternate → landers
Musk originally developed Starship for Mars, intending to launch scores of them with the red planet’s first settlers.
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Musk → develop → settlers
For now, he plans to focus on the moon and use Starship to haul satellites into orbit by the truckload, phasing out the company’s frailer Falcon 9 rocket within several years.
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he → plan → years
A second Starship launch site is nearing completion at Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre and a third is planned for Louisiana.
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third → near → Louisiana
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what → get → world
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