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TechArticleArchive no. TE-0001 · · updated · Reading time: 3 min

Starship reaches orbit for the first time, but cuts its flight short

On Monday 28 September 2026, SpaceX’s giant rocket reached orbit and released 26 Starlink satellites, despite an engine shutting down too early. Planned to last nearly ten hours, the flight ended after three: caution won out over the flight plan.

Primary source: SpaceX, official page for Flight 14 (Starship Flight 14)Verified in French
Subcategories
The complete Starship rocket, the ship stacked on its Super Heavy first stage, standing on its launch pad at Starbase, Texas
Starship on its Starbase launch pad before its 5th test flight, in October 2024 (earlier version of the launcher).Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 · source

The facts

On Monday 28 September 2026, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 7.48am local time (2.48pm in Paris), half an hour after the opening of its launch window. For the first time in fourteen flights, the ship reached orbit, at an altitude of about 275 km and nearly 28,000 km/h, according to the Associated Press. “Starship is orbital,” mission control announced, according to the same agency.

The flight was not without its hitches. During the ascent, one of the ship’s six engines shut down earlier than planned. SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot first announced that orbit insertion would not be attempted, before the flight controllers decided to carry on, reports Space.com.

The 26 third-generation (V3) Starlink satellites were then deployed. However, SpaceX gave up on the six planned orbits of the Earth: the ship began its re-entry after about three hours of flight, instead of nearly ten, and splashed down in the Pacific, north of Hawaii, rather than west of Chile as planned. According to the Associated Press, it tipped over and caught fire on splashdown. The agency presents this early return as a precautionary measure; AFP links it to the engine shutdown.

The first stage, Super Heavy, came down in the Gulf of Mexico as planned, after a boostback manoeuvre and a final braking burn; no catch by the tower was on the programme.

Starship's engines igniting at lift-off, with a plume of flames and steam at the foot of the tower
One of the thirteen suborbital test flights that preceded Flight 14: engine ignition on the 5th flight, 13 October 2024.Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 · source

The context

Starship’s thirteen previous flights were all suborbital: the ship climbed into space without reaching the speed needed to stay there, then fell back. The last one, Flight 13 on 24 July 2026, had already released 20 test Starlink V3 satellites on that trajectory.

Flight 14 used the third version of the launcher, according to Space.com, with the Super Heavy first stage B21 and the ship S41, which is 52 m long. Stacked, the whole vehicle measures 124 m. According to Futura, each Starlink V3 satellite is to add 1 Tbit/s of capacity to the network.

Starship's launch plume above the Gulf of Mexico, photographed from the International Space Station
Starship's 6th flight, also suborbital, seen from the International Space Station on 19 November 2024.NASA, public domain (NASA) · source

What comes next is already sketched out, with dates that NASASpaceFlight considers very provisional. Flight 15, planned for 19 October at the earliest, could put tower catches of the stages back on the programme; the Associated Press mentions an attempt to recover the ship itself. Flight 16, planned for 30 October at the earliest, would be the first to launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX must first analyse the data from this flight.

Why it matters

Reaching orbit moves Starship from testing to use: it is the launcher’s first flight to deploy Starlink satellites intended to join the constellation. According to NASASpaceFlight, these 26 satellites represent about ten times the capacity of a Falcon 9 launch of previous-generation satellites.

It is also a step towards the rest of the programme. According to AFP, this flight is to open a new phase of testing, including attempts at in-orbit propellant transfer, and modified versions of Starship are to serve NASA’s lunar programme. The agency’s administrator, Jared Isaacman, congratulated SpaceX on carrying out each step in a “safe, responsible and especially inspirational way”, according to the Associated Press.

Archive note

  • Flight 14, 28 September 2026: lift-off at 2.48pm (Paris time), Starship’s first orbital flight, 26 Starlink V3 satellites deployed.
  • One of the ship’s engines shut down too early; orbit insertion went ahead, but the flight was cut from about ten hours to about three.
  • The ship splashed down in the Pacific, north of Hawaii; the first stage came down in the Gulf of Mexico as planned.

Sources

  1. SpaceX, Starship Flight 14, 28 Sept 2026 (primary source)
  2. Associated Press (via CP24), SpaceX's supersized Starship launches into orbit for the first time but flight ends early, 28 Sept 2026
  3. The Associated Press (via Le Droit), Le gigantesque vaisseau Starship de SpaceX s'est mis en orbite pour la première fois, 28 Sept 2026
  4. AFP (via Orange Actu), La mégafusée Starship d'Elon Musk signe un premier vol en orbite, 28 Sept 2026
  5. Ciel & Espace, Starship atteint l'orbite et déploie 26 gros satellites Starlink, 28 Sept 2026
  6. Futura, Starship 14 : SpaceX tente lundi l'étape qui doit transformer son immense fusée en véritable véhicule spatial, 25 Sept 2026
  7. Futura, 13e vol d'essai du Starship : entre réussite technique et défis persistants, 27 Jul 2026
  8. Space.com, SpaceX launches Starship into orbit for 1st time — largest rocket ever built notches key milestone on dramatic Flight 14 test, 28 Sept 2026
  9. NASASpaceFlight, Starship Flight 14: SpaceX Attempts Orbit, 27 Sept 2026
  10. NASASpaceFlight, Flight 14 approaches as a near-term manifest sketches Starship's next steps, 26 Sept 2026

Image and video credits

  • Starship on its Starbase launch pad before its 5th test flight, in October 2024 (earlier version of the launcher).: Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 · source
  • One of the thirteen suborbital test flights that preceded Flight 14: engine ignition on the 5th flight, 13 October 2024.: Steve Jurvetson, CC BY 2.0 · source
  • Starship's 6th flight, also suborbital, seen from the International Space Station on 19 November 2024.: NASA, public domain (NASA) · source

Corrections

  • : We defined a suborbital flight as one that falls back “before completing a full orbit of the Earth”; more precisely, it is a trajectory that climbs into space without enough speed to stay there, so that the craft falls back.
  • : We wrote that the engine that shut down was one of the ship’s three engines designed for vacuum and that the SpaceX broadcast, as reported by the BBC, had judged those engines unnecessary for the rest of the flight; the sources we were able to consult say only that one of the ship’s six engines shut down early, and that the controllers then decided to carry on.
  • : We wrote that SpaceX would have to demonstrate in orbit a refuelling that is “indispensable” to the lunar version of Starship; the sources consulted mention future in-orbit refuelling tests and Starship’s role in NASA’s lunar programme, without this explicit link.
  • : Updated: addition of the official flight page on SpaceX’s website and of French-language sources, translation of the mission control quote, clarifications on the launch window, the height of the launcher and the causes of the early return.

All corrections on the site →

— The Bunker archivists

Method: at least 3 sources including the official one, cross-checked with the help of an AI (Claude), checked and approved by a human on 28 Sept 2026 in the French original; this English version is an AI translation. Our method
Spotted a mistake? Report it: we correct in public.

Read the original in French