SpaceX Starship Reaches Earth Orbit for the First Time

Musk's System is (almost) in Orbit At Least the Starship Rocket Made It into Orbit

2026-09-30 Source: dpa 2 min Reading Time

SpaceX's massive Starship rocket has finally managed to reach Earth's orbit. NASA is also feeling a new surge of momentum...

Just a few years ago, SpaceX specialists were working on the world’s largest rocket—the Starship. Now, Elon Musk’s company has reached a milestone during a test flight: Earth’s orbit! But there was also a downside...(Image: SpaceX) — Just a few years ago, SpaceX specialists were working on the world’s largest rocket—the Starship. Now, Elon Musk’s company has reached a milestone during a test flight: Earth’s orbit! But there was also a downside...
(Image: SpaceX)

The largest rocket system ever built by Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, lifted off from a spaceport in the U.S. state of Texas. The upper stage then entered orbit about 275 kilometers (171 miles) above Earth and, roughly three hours later, crashed into the Pacific Ocean in a ball of fire—in a controlled manner, mind you! The lower rocket stage had already crashed into the ocean near the launch site in a controlled manner. But it didn’t quite go as planned! The original plan was for a roughly ten-hour mission during which the rocket was to enter Earth’s orbit and circle the Earth about six times in total. After successfully entering orbit, however, SpaceX announced that the giant rocket was to return to Earth after only about three hours. No reason was initially given for this, but one of the engines had failed shortly before.

Elon Musk Talks About a Successful Test

SpaceX founder Elon Musk nevertheless called it a successful first orbital flight of the Starship. The head of the U.S. space agency NASA, Jared Isaacman, offered his congratulations: “What a beautiful launch! The Starship was placed into orbit, and every step was managed in a safe, responsible, and truly inspiring way.” NASA and the rest of the interested public are now looking forward to helping in any way they can and to the day when Starship missions become routine. According to SpaceX, Starlink satellites were also deployed for the first time as part of the mission. These so-called V3 satellites are designed to deploy their antennas and solar panels after release and then establish connections to Earth and other Starlink satellites. Everything went according to plan.

Elon Musk's space company SpaceX can look forward to a second rental agreement for computing power for AI applications. The latest deal will start at the end of the year with none other than Google ... (Image:SpaceX)

Subscribe to the newsletter now

Don't Miss out on Our Best Content

Business E-mail

Please enter a valid mailadress.

By clicking on „Subscribe to Newsletter“ I agree to the processing and use of my data according to the consent form (please expand for details) and accept the Terms of Use. For more information, please see our Privacy Policy. The consent declaration relates, among other things, to the sending of editorial newsletters by email and to data matching for marketing purposes with selected advertising partners (e.g., LinkedIn, Google, Meta)

Date: 08.12.2025

Naturally, we always handle your personal data responsibly. Any personal data we receive from you is processed in accordance with applicable data protection legislation. For detailed information please see our privacy policy.

Consent to the use of data for promotional purposes

I hereby consent to Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG, Max-Planck-Str. 7-9, 97082 Würzburg including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG (hereafter: Vogel Communications Group) using my e-mail address to send editorial newsletters. A list of all affiliated companies can be found here

Newsletter content may include all products and services of any companies mentioned above, including for example specialist journals and books, events and fairs as well as event-related products and services, print and digital media offers and services such as additional (editorial) newsletters, raffles, lead campaigns, market research both online and offline, specialist webportals and e-learning offers. In case my personal telephone number has also been collected, it may be used for offers of aforementioned products, for services of the companies mentioned above, and market research purposes.

Additionally, my consent also includes the processing of my email address and telephone number for data matching for marketing purposes with select advertising partners such as LinkedIn, Google, and Meta. For this, Vogel Communications Group may transmit said data in hashed form to the advertising partners who then use said data to determine whether I am also a member of the mentioned advertising partner portals. Vogel Communications Group uses this feature for the purposes of re-targeting (up-selling, cross-selling, and customer loyalty), generating so-called look-alike audiences for acquisition of new customers, and as basis for exclusion for on-going advertising campaigns. Further information can be found in section “data matching for marketing purposes”.

In case I access protected data on Internet portals of Vogel Communications Group including any affiliated companies according to §§ 15 et seq. AktG, I need to provide further data in order to register for the access to such content. In return for this free access to editorial content, my data may be used in accordance with this consent for the purposes stated here. This does not apply to data matching for marketing purposes.

Right of revocation

I understand that I can revoke my consent at will. My revocation does not change the lawfulness of data processing that was conducted based on my consent leading up to my revocation. One option to declare my revocation is to use the contact form found at https://contact.vogel.de. In case I no longer wish to receive certain newsletters, I have subscribed to, I can also click on the unsubscribe link included at the end of a newsletter. Further information regarding my right of revocation and the implementation of it as well as the consequences of my revocation can be found in the data protection declaration, section editorial newsletter.