SpaceX puts Starship megarocket in orbit for first time

SpaceX's Starship megarocket reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 satellites before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, reaching a major milestone for the developmental spacecraft key to Elon Musk's audacious plans.

The black-and-silver behemoth, standing more than 120 meters (131 yards) tall, blasted off from SpaceX's Texas base early Monday morning with the aim of reaching orbit and spending about 10 hours circling Earth.

Following the successful separation and splashdown of the Super Heavy booster, the Starship upper stage reached orbit -- but only after some engine trouble raised doubts the mission would proceed.

"Starship is orbital," a member of the launch team said on a livestream, with cheers ringing out among assembled SpaceX staff.

Minutes later, the spaceship began deploying next-generation Starlink satellites, adding to the massive satellite internet constellation that represents a major revenue stream for the now-publicly traded company.

After about only three hours into the flight, SpaceX engineers made the decision to de-orbit the spacecraft into the Pacific Ocean.

The livestream showed the upright upper stage rapidly gliding back down through the atmosphere before the engines re-lit, slowing its descent into the water.

After touching down vertically, the Starship appeared to sink onto its side and was engulfed by a large explosion.

Musk intends for Starship to one day be rapidly reusable, landing on platforms that will catch the rocket before it touches the ground or water.

- More challenges ahead -

After several years of development and testing in Texas, SpaceX began flying Starship in its full configuration in 2023 and has since made numerous modifications through the successes and failures of its tests.

But enormous technical challenges remain before Starship can fulfill Musk's dreams of reaching the Moon and even Mars -- including proving the ship can be refueled in orbit.

NASA is also betting on using a modified version of Starship for missions to return US astronauts to the lunar surface.

Kathleen Curlee, a senior analyst at Georgetown University's Center for Security and Emerging Technology, told AFP that Monday's test was not "super successful" but did make significant progress.

"It's an achievement for achieving flight and getting into orbit, but from SpaceX's own metrics and goals, they did not accomplish a 10 hour flight and did have the engine trouble," she said.

- Public expectations -

The plan had called for the rocket to finish its journey in the Pacific Ocean after six orbits, but it ultimately only made two trips around the Earth.

The huge first-stage booster meanwhile landed in the waters off of Texas, with SpaceX choosing not to attempt to return it to base.

The company has previously successfully caught the booster back at the base with the launchpad's so-called "chopstick" arms.

From an engineering point of view, "just achieving flight and getting data" would be considered a success, Curlee said ahead of the launch.

But spectators and investors have different expectations.

"They need to have flashy tests" because anything less would be seen as a failure, she added.

The development of Starship has faced repeated delays, and a Chinese company has recently made progress in the field of reusable rockets.

Still, SpaceX continues to dominate the global space launch market, thanks to its partially reusable Falcon rockets, and has made risk-taking its mantra.

Highlighting its frontrunner status, the Starship test will be followed this week by three other SpaceX rocket launches, one of which will carry a crew of astronauts to the International Space Station.

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