SpaceX's Starship Successfully Enters Earth's Orbit for the First Time

US aerospace company SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, successfully put its heavy-duty spacecraft Starship into Earth's orbit for the first time on the 28th (local time), overcoming a crisis involving an engine malfunction during flight.

Starship lifted off and embarked on its test flight at 7:49 a.m. that day from the Starbase launch site in Texas, US.

During liftoff, one of Starship's six Raptor engines shut down earlier than scheduled, appearing to thwart its entry into orbit during the initial live broadcast. However, SpaceX engineers urgently reviewed the flight data and determined that reigniting the core engine for orbital insertion was possible, allowing the mission to proceed.

SpaceX successfully deployed 26 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites into orbit during this flight.

SpaceX stated afterward, "All of the satellites we deployed are in good health," adding, "They are operating very smoothly."

Reaching orbit is considered a key milestone for rockets.

Following the first test flight in 2023, the previous 13 flight tests were all conducted as suborbital flights for safety reasons.

This flight has drawn particular attention as it goes beyond technological verification, targeting actual satellite network expansion and revenue generation.

Because V3 satellites boast more than 10 times the communication capacity of the existing V2 satellites, SpaceX expects this to significantly boost revenue from its communication business.

SpaceX plans to use Starship to launch Starlink satellites more efficiently while continuously carrying out crewed exploration missions to the Moon and Mars in the future.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.