For years Starship has been the rocket that almost got there. On Monday morning it finally did. SpaceX flew its 14th full-scale Starship from Starbase, Texas, and after a few tense minutes mission control announced the giant vehicle was orbital. One engine shut down earlier than planned, and for a moment nobody seemed sure what would happen next. Because that engine was no longer needed, controllers decided to carry on anyway.
The ship then released 26 new Starlink satellites, one by one, to cheers from the crowd. The plan is six laps around Earth from about 170 miles up, ending with a splashdown near Chile. Why does it matter? NASA wants Starship for its Artemis moon program, with Artemis III possible as soon as next summer. Next comes the tricky part: flying back to the launch tower and catching the ship with mechanical arms. Musk rates those odds roughly even.
