SpaceX's Starship launches on 14th flight, first headed to orbit

- SpaceX's next-generation Starship rocket lifted ​off from Texas on ‌Monday for ​its debut flight to orbit and first operational release of satellites, marking its 14th launch ‌ahead of a routine service that Elon Musk's company expects to begin later this year. The uncrewed 40-story-tall vehicle, consisting of a Super Heavy booster rocket ‌topped by the main upper-stage Starship vessel, thundered off its launch pad ‌at around 7:46 a.m. CT (1246 GMT) from SpaceX's Starbase complex along the Gulf of Mexico near Brownsville.

Starship, built to launch SpaceX's Starlink satellites more frequently and carry future ⁠NASA missions ​to the ⁠moon, was expected to complete six Earth orbits during a 10-hour voyage — its longest yet — before ⁠splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. Reaching orbit, a primary benchmark ​for any new rocket designed to deliver payloads to space, has ⁠been a long-delayed feat for Starship, which Musk once predicted would be achieved in 2022, ⁠to ​be followed by satellite deployments in 2023.

Since 2023, however, all 13 of Starship's previous test flights have been limited to suborbital ⁠space, despite a nearly decade-long development campaign that has cost SpaceX more than $15 billion ⁠to date. ⁠Musk has said he envisions ultimately flying hundreds or thousands of Starships a year, a launch pace unprecedented in ‌the ‌space industry.