SpaceX's Starship Reaches Orbit for the First Time Despite Engine Failure

On September 28, 2026, Starship completed its 14th test flight by lifting off from Starbase in South Texas and successfully reaching Earth orbit for the first time, overcoming the shutdown of one of its six Raptor engines during ascent, according to The Guardian, BBC and TechCrunch.¹⁵⁷

Mission profile

The 14th full-scale test, known as Flight 14, aimed to send Starship's upper stage around Earth six times at an altitude of about 170 miles over nearly ten hours, according to NPR, TechCrunch and The Straits Times. The plan called for release of 26 third-generation Starlink satellites, three of which carried cameras intended to record data on the performance of Starship's heat shield, NPR reported.¹³⁴

NPR reported that Starship reached orbital speeds of about 17,500 miles per hour during the flight. Powered by 33 engines, the Super Heavy booster was set to drop into the Gulf of Mexico just minutes after launch, while the upper stage was scheduled to land in the Pacific Ocean off Chile once its orbits were finished, according to Phys.org and wfmz.com.¹⁸

Mission managers subsequently cut the planned six-orbit, nearly ten-hour flight to about three hours, according to kacu.org and waer.org, affiliates of NPR. The Super Heavy booster landed in the Gulf of Mexico as planned, and Starship deployed its Starlink satellites while in orbit, foxsanantonio.com reported.¹¹¹²⁹

Engine loss reported

Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time, according to The Guardian, BBC and TechCrunch, after one of its six Raptor engines shut down during ascent. Mission controllers assessed the problem and decided about 22 minutes into the flight that it was safe to continue toward orbit, according to NPR affiliates kacu.org and waer.org. Cheers and applause broke out among SpaceX staff when the vehicle achieved orbit, The Guardian reported, quoting mission narrator Daniel Hewitt: "Starship is in orbit."¹⁵⁷¹¹

University of Leicester astrophysics professor Martin Barstow called the achievement "an important milestone for SpaceX, with Starship successfully reaching orbit, and at the first attempt," adding that it "marks the beginning of the transition from the testing and development phase to becoming a working vehicle able to deliver the large payloads needed to return to the moon" and that "having this large launch capability will also be transformational for the whole space industry," according to The Guardian.¹

Development and safety record

Starship, at 407 feet tall, is designed to be fully reusable and is described by Phys.org and wfmz.com as the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. Earlier test flights went no farther than the Indian Ocean and often ended in crashes, according to the same reports.⁶⁸²

Musk said the company was proceeding cautiously about the risk of debris: "our popularity would diminish very rapidly. He explained that this level of caution stems from concern that any mishap could quickly hurt the company's reputation, according to Phys.org.⁶

Wider ambitions

The mission is linked to NASA's Artemis program, which has selected Starship as the human landing system intended to carry astronauts to the lunar surface; Artemis III is slated to launch late next year, according to NPR. SpaceX also plans to open a third Starship launch site in Louisiana in 2029 and is completing a second site at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, according to NPR and wfmz.com.¹⁸

In a filing cited by NPR, SpaceX said: "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."⁴¹