SpaceX launched its enormous Starship into orbit for the first time Monday and successfully delivered the most advanced Starlinks yet, but decided to cut short the flight.
asserted
SpaceX → launch → flight
SpaceX said the spacecraft would reenter over the Pacific and splash down north of Hawaii three hours after blasting off from Texas.
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spacecraft → say → Texas
The company had been aiming for a 10-hour flight, spanning six full laps around Earth, to prove its readiness for NASA’s Artemis moon program.
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company → aim → program
The spacecraft almost didn’t make it to orbit after one of its engines shut down too soon.
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one → make → orbit
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
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on reaching orbit and “managing every step in a safe, responsible and especially inspirational way.”
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Isaacman → congratulate → way
Rocket carries 26 of Musk’s most advanced Starlink satellites
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 → carry → 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 decision to end the flight early came soon afterward.
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decision → end → flight
No reason was provided.
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reason → provide → ?
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 kilometers) — not just once but six times over almost 10 hours, ending with a Pacific splashdown near Chile.
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SpaceX → circle → Chile
While Starship achieved the proper orbit zipping along at 17,500 mph (28,000 kph), flight controllers opted to play it safe and bring it back several hours sooner, after just a couple laps.
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controllers → achieve → laps
The first-stage booster was never 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 → ’ → ?
Depending on the findings from Monday’s orbital debut, the next Starship could return to the launch pad with giant mechanical arms grabbing the hovering spacecraft.
uncertain
arms → depend → spacecraft
If the catch works — Musk gives it even or slightly better odds — then SpaceX will refly the spacecraft by year’s end or early next year.
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SpaceX → work → end
The 407-foot (124-meter) 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 wants Starship to be certified for orbital flight
SpaceX is pressing hard to certify Starship for orbital flight, a vital step toward moon and Mars travel.
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SpaceX → want → 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 is unleashed.
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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 Center and a third is planned for Louisiana.
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third → near → Louisiana
The Associated Press’ health and science coverage receives financial support from the AP Fund for Journalism and private foundations.
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coverage → receive → Journalism
The Aporia
