SpaceX flies Starship to orbit despite an early upper-stage engine shutdown
SpaceX put Starship into orbit on its first orbital flight even after one of the upper stage's six Raptor engines shut down early. It sets up the orbital refuelling tests NASA's 2028 moon landing depends on, though those tests and an upper-stage catch are still ahead.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
What happened
- Flight controllers reviewed telemetry, judged the ship otherwise healthy and cleared a second firing, on a single Raptor, that completed the climb to orbit.
- The Super Heavy booster lost one of its 33 engines on ascent and apparently another during boost-back, then made a seemingly normal splashdown a few miles offshore.
- Eight and a half minutes after the orbit-insertion burn, Starship began releasing 26 third-generation Starlink satellites from a dispenser in its nose.
- The planned moon landing uses a Starship variant that must be fuelled by multiple tanker flights before it meets an Orion capsule in lunar orbit.
Why it matters
- Who has to decide decision Teams planning around NASA's 2028 landing can now count orbit as shown, while orbital refuelling still has to be carried in their plans as an untested step with its own schedule risk.
- What it limits constraint Until an upper stage is caught at the pad, customers have no flight evidence on which to price in cheaper heavy lift from Starship.
- Who's exposed exposure Engine reliability now sits on the path of a landing campaign that needs several tanker launches to go right in sequence, and the rate behind it is unmeasured.
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Starship's first working payload of 26 Starlink V3 satellites reached orbit on a shortened flightConfirmed12 publishers
SpaceX planned the flight so that the decision to go to orbit came after the first burn [3][4]. That burn aimed for a suborbital path like earlier test flights. If SpaceX lost control of the vehicle, that path would still end in a safe splashdown [4]. The upper stage finished the burn on five of its six Raptors [15], and the orbital burn went ahead only after the flight team's health check [3].
Counted across both stages, three engines shut down early on one flight [14]. The booster is designed to reach space despite losing engines [5]. The previous test flight went worse. Three engines had problems, only eight of 13 fired for the landing burn, and the booster hit the water hard [7]. SpaceX made upgrades and software changes before Monday's launch [7].
The board-deck version is short: orbit reached, 2028 on track. It leaves out the part of the flight that had not happened when CBS filed. CBS ties confidence in the 2028 mission to getting Starship into orbit and back [18]. At that point the ship still had six orbits to fly before a single-engine de-orbit burn 8 hours and 52 minutes after launch, with a tail-first splashdown planned off Chile [17]. After the return comes autonomous orbital refuelling, which has never been attempted at the scale Artemis landings require. Reaching orbit sets the stage for the test flights meant to demonstrate it [13].
A skeptic would ask what happens when the flight is repeated. A landing that needs several tanker launches [12] gives an engine problem several chances to cost a flight. Monday gives a partial answer. Both stages kept flying after losing an engine, and the upper stage still reached a 180-mile orbit [16][5]. One flight cannot show how often engines quit across a run of launches, and we do not know that rate yet.
Most of the supply-chain case for heavy lift is about cost, and the CBS account does not include launch prices. The capacity figures are on the record. The booster generates some 16 million pounds of thrust, twice that of NASA's Space Launch System [11]. Both stages are designed to be caught at the launch site [8][9]. I think any fall in launch cost depends on those catches becoming routine, and I would not read one from this flight. SpaceX has caught the booster with the tower's mechanical arms four times but is sticking with ocean splashdowns until upgrades are tested [8]. The upper stage has not yet attempted a catch [9].
What to watch
- Whether Starship completes its single-engine de-orbit burn and tail-first splashdown off Chile, the return half CBS links to confidence in the 2028 schedule.
- The follow-on flights meant to demonstrate autonomous orbital refuelling at the scale Artemis landings require.
- A return to tower catches for Super Heavy and a first attempt to catch the upper stage at the pad.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence72
- Adoption25
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives50
- Confidence70
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
SpaceX launched its Super Heavy-Starship on the rocket's first flight to orbit on Monday.
- [2]
One of the Starship upper stage's six Raptor engines shut down early during the climb to an initially suborbital trajectory.
- [3]
After assessing telemetry, the flight control team decided the spacecraft was otherwise healthy, and a second engine firing using a single Raptor engine completed the climb to orbit.
- [4]
The first upper-stage burn was intended to put Starship on a sub-orbital trajectory similar to past flights that would result in a safe splashdown even if SpaceX lost control of the rocket.
- [5]
The Super Heavy booster has 33 Raptor engines; one shut down early during ascent, but the booster was designed to reach space despite such failures.
- [6]
A second booster engine apparently shut down early during the boost-back burn, but the booster executed a seemingly normal vertical splashdown a few miles offshore.
- [7]
On the previous test flight, three engines had problems that prevented a full-duration boost-back burn, only eight of 13 engines fired for the landing burn, and the result was a hard splashdown; SpaceX implemented multiple upgrades and software changes for this flight.
- [8]
The first stage is designed to be captured by mechanical arms on its launch gantry, which SpaceX has done four times to date, but SpaceX is sticking with ocean splashdowns until upgrades and improvements have been tested.
- [9]
The Starship upper stage is designed to be captured back at the pad after a trip to space, but that milestone has not yet been attempted.
- [10]
Eight and a half minutes after the orbit-insertion burn, a dispenser in the rocket's nose began launching 26 third-generation Starlink satellites, each with 10 times the capacity of the previous generation.
- [11]
The Super Heavy booster generates some 16 million pounds of thrust, twice the power of NASA's Space Launch System moon rocket.
- [12]
A future moon mission will require multiple Super Heavy-Starship tanker flights to fuel the lander for its flight to the moon before it docks with a NASA Orion crew capsule in lunar orbit and picks up two astronauts.
- [13]
Getting Starship safely into orbit sets the stage for follow-on test flights to demonstrate autonomous orbital refuelling, a feat never before attempted at the scale required for Artemis moon landing missions.
- [14]
Three engines shut down early across both stages on the flight: one on the upper stage, one on the booster during ascent, and apparently one on the booster during boost-back.
- [15]
The upper stage completed its first burn with five of its six Raptor engines running.
- [16]
The Starship upper stage climbed into a 180-mile-high orbit with two engine firings.
- [17]
After satellite deployment, engineers planned to monitor Starship through six orbits before a single-engine de-orbit firing 8 hours and 52 minutes after launch, followed by re-entry and a tail-first splashdown off the coast of Chile.
- [18]
Getting Starship into orbit and back would boost confidence that SpaceX can perfect the system in time to support a planned 2028 NASA moon mission using a variant of Starship.
Sources
2 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- cbsnews.comSpaceX launches Starship on giant rocket's first flight to orbit - CBS News
1 article · September 28, 2026
- theguardian.com‘Starship is in orbit’: cheers go up as huge SpaceX rocket circles Earth for first time | SpaceX | The Guardian
1 article · September 28, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Orbital refuelling
- Reusable Launch Vehicles
- Satellite Broadband
- Artemis Program