SpaceX's Starship and Super Heavy reached orbit for the first time on Sept. 28 during Flight 14, launching from Starbase in South Texas. About 25 minutes after liftoff, the Ship upper stage fired a single Raptor engine to enter orbit. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called it a successful first orbital flight.
The launch was not smooth: one of the Ship's six engines went out during liftoff, and SpaceX briefly announced the orbital attempt was called off before flight controllers reversed course and gave a "go" minutes later. The primary goal was to reach orbit and deploy 26 Starlink satellites into an operational orbit, and the Ship was seen deploying satellites in the mission footage.
Starship stands 407 feet (124 meters) tall and can carry more than 110 tons to Earth orbit. Reaching orbit and deploying real payloads shifts the vehicle from pure flight testing toward operational service and the build-out of the Starlink V3 constellation.