SpaceX’s Starship makes orbital debut deploying Starlinks before early ending

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket reached orbit for the first time on Monday and deployed new Starlink satellites, achieving key milestones despite an early engine failure and a decision to cut the mission short by seven hours. The mission was scheduled to last ten hours, but was reduced to three hours after the engine problem. Launching from Texas, it was the rocket’s 14th flight since 2023, as Elon Musk’s company plans to put the vehicle into routine use starting later this year