SpaceX's Starship spacecraft has completed an orbital flight for the first time in its history: the vehicle's 14th launch carried 26 Starlink V3 satellites into Earth orbit, according to infohub.kz.
Previously, all Starship tests followed suborbital trajectories — a flight profile that allowed testing to be conducted within safety requirements. The current mission is the first in which the vehicle is meant to actually reach orbit.
SpaceX said reaching orbit opens the next phase in the development of a fully and rapidly reusable system.
"The upcoming flight will be the first in which we plan to deploy Starlink V3 satellites into orbit. Their launch will significantly increase the speed and reliability of connectivity around the world," the company's publication says.
According to the company, Starship is to climb roughly 275 km above Earth and complete about six orbits. The flight will last nearly 10 hours, after which the vehicle is to be deorbited and splash down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
"The Starship upper stage is to perform an orbital insertion burn for the first time, deploy 26 satellites, conduct a braking burn with a single Raptor engine in space, and then carry out a controlled return and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean," the company added.