Starship finally makes orbit but engine trouble cuts the victory lap short

SpaceX's Starship reached orbit for the first time yesterday and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, although engine trouble cut short a planned six-orbit flight. Super Heavy had problems of its own. All 33 Raptor 3 engines ignited at 07:48 CT, but one shut down during ascent. The booster later reignited 26 of the 28 engines planned for its boostback maneuver. During descent, it reignited 11 of the planned 13 engines for the high-thrust portion of its landing burn before stepping down to five and then three. It splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, after which its flight termination system was deliberately triggered to test the safety hardware. More consequential was the premature shutdown of one of Starship's three vacuum-optimized Raptors...

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