SpaceX Starship Achieves Orbit in Flight 14, But Ends in Early Explosion

SpaceX’s Starship achieved a historic milestone by reaching orbit for the first time during its 14th flight, despite a mid-ascent engine failure and a premature end to the mission. The rocket launched from SpaceX’s Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on Monday, September 28, at 8:49 a.m. ET. Shortly after liftoff, one of the vehicle’s 33 Raptor engines malfunctioned, prompting engineers to debate whether to abort the orbital insertion attempt.

After a tense deliberation period, mission controllers gave the go-ahead. A short booster firing successfully nudged Starship into orbit, where it reached an apogee of 170 miles (275 kilometers) above Earth. During its brief orbital stay, the spacecraft deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, which are designed to enhance the speed and reliability of SpaceX’s internet constellation.

Although the original mission plan called for a 10-hour duration in space, SpaceX opted to bring Starship back early. The rocket splashed down in the Pacific Ocean after just 3 hours and 8 minutes. True to expectations for this test vehicle, Starship exploded upon re-entry impact, an event that drew audible cheers from viewers on the SpaceX livestream. SpaceX noted that while the explosive landing was anticipated, retaining the vehicle intact—as achieved during Flight 13—would have been preferable.

Flight 14 was described by the company as its “most ambitious launch to date.” Prior to this attempt, Starship had only completed suborbital flights; reaching orbit marks the “next phase” in SpaceX’s goal to develop a fully reusable rocket. The mission also served as a testbed for a modified booster featuring hardware and software updates following the previous flight.

The path to this success has been fraught with difficulties. Starship’s earlier test flights saw multiple explosions, including failures during Flights 7, 8, and 10, as well as a ground test anomaly before Flight 10. Flight 9 fell short of its objectives. Conversely, Flight 10 in August 2025 was largely successful despite damage, and Flight 11 in October was clean. The most recent tests in March and July 2026 featured successful launches and controlled landings but still encountered booster issues.

The outcome of these tests carries significant weight for NASA’s Artemis program. Starship is being developed as the commercial lunar lander intended to ferry astronauts to the moon’s surface during the Artemis IV mission, currently targeted for early 2028. NASA plans to test docking with its commercial lander options during the Artemis III mission in the summer of 2027. With rival Blue Origin facing setbacks following the dramatic explosion of its New Glenn rocket in May, the success of Starship is seen as critical to keeping the Artemis timeline on track, though today’s early termination raises questions about SpaceX’s ability to meet those strict deadlines.