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SpaceX Starship Flight 14 launches from Texas on Monday. Flight 14 is planned to be the first to send Starship into orbit around the Earth as well as deploy Starlink satellites. Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP via Getty Images SpaceX has launched its Starship spacecraft from the company's Starbase facility from Boca Chica Beach in Texas, on a critical test flight that sent the 171-foot-tall vehicle into orbit for the first time.
At 7:48 am CT, Starship's Super Heavy booster ignited its 33 rocket engines to send the spacecraft on its 14th flight. Two-and-a-half minutes after launch, Starship separated from the booster and continued its flight. One of the six engines on Starship failed on the ascent, leading SpaceX to determine whether it would continue the flight to orbit.
At about 22 minutes into the flight, the team decided the vehicle could continue on its orbital flight path. Super Heavy is designed to be reusable by returning to its launch site, where it is caught by the launch tower. This booster, however, simulated a landing offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX is testing upgrades to the booster's software and hardware during this flight. No one is on board for this mission. The 10-hour flight plan for Starship includes approximately six orbits around the Earth at an altitude of about 170 miles.
Previous Starship flights have been suborbital. Starship 14 is the first time the vehicle will reach orbital speeds — about 17,500 mph. SpaceX says this mission's launch profile includes portions that would allow Starship to abort its orbital trajectory and return to Earth safely.
During its flight, SpaceX intends to deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites into its constellation of thousands of internet satellites that provide broadband access worldwide. SpaceX regularly launches Starlink satellites from Florida and California using its Falcon 9 rocket, but announced the final mission from Florida last month with plans to launch exclusively with Starship from Florida's space coast in the future. If all goes as planned during Monday's flight, Starship will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile.
Eventually, SpaceX wants to recover the spacecraft and reuse it. SpaceX is testing key systems of the Starship vehicle like its heat shield. Three of those Starlink satellites have cameras installed to capture data on Starship's heat shield.
Surviving re-entry is key to SpaceX's plans for spacecraft reusability. The company is betting on Starship to continue its growth. It's the only spacecraft that can launch the larger V3 version of its Starlink satellites.
In its filings to the FEC ahead of SpaceX's IPO in June, the company underscored Starship's role in its plans for growth. "Any failure or delay in the development of Starship at scale or in achieving the required launch cadence, reusability and capabilities thereafter would delay or limit our ability to execute our growth strategy," it reads. Starship is also key to NASA's plan to return humans to the moon.
The agency tapped SpaceX to develop Starship as a human landing system to transport astronauts to the lunar surface for future Artemis missions. NASA is planning to test the ability to dock its Orion human space capsule to Starship, along with another commercial lander designed by Blue Origin during Artemis III, which is slated to launch late next year. SpaceX announced plans to build a massive facility in Louisiana , aiming to launch Starship.
The company says the $100 billion investment includes plans for dozens of launch pads with the goal of sending Starship from Starbase, Louisiana, beginning in 2029.
Source: NPR
