SpaceX, the American space company founded by Elon Musk, launched its Starship rocket from Texas. The vehicle is being developed to carry cargo and people into space. Despite the premature shutdown of one engine, the spacecraft managed to reach orbit and began releasing 26 satellites for the Starlink satellite internet network, according to infohub.kz.
The engine incident nearly altered the course of the flight. Once Starship was in space, one of its three main engines shut down earlier than planned. SpaceX representative Dan Huot said during the broadcast that the company intended to cancel the planned maneuver. "The team decided not to go to orbit," he said.
However, a few minutes later, engineers recalculated the trajectory and gave the go-ahead to continue the flight. The spacecraft ignited its engine, reached orbit, and began deploying Starlink V3 satellites at an altitude of about 269 km. According to SpaceX, the V3 version satellites can transmit ten times more data than the previous V2 Mini devices.
This launch marked the 14th test flight of Starship and the first in which the spacecraft delivered a payload to orbit. All previous flights followed a suborbital trajectory. SpaceX expects the current test to last about ten hours. During that time, the spacecraft is to circle the Earth six times before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
The company plans to use Starship for more frequent Starlink satellite launches. In addition, the spacecraft has an important role in NASA's Artemis lunar program. Earlier, Kursiv reported that SpaceX introduced a new Starlink with speeds over 375 Mbps. And the day before, it became known which trains in Kazakhstan already have Starlink internet.