Nick Castro
@nickcastr0
· Sep 29
Did SpaceX's Starship finally reach orbit?Yes — after more than a dozen attempts, SpaceX's giant rocket reached orbit for the first time, though the vehicle came back to Earth earlier than the company intended.What happened: On its 14th test flight, SpaceX's Starship finally punched through to orbit, a real milestone for Elon Musk's ambition to send people to the moon and Mars. The flight was not a clean sweep: the ship returned to Earth ahead of schedule, leaving engineers with work still to do. SpaceX's habit of blowing up prototypes and shrugging it off is now, apparently, paying off.Key numbers: 14 test flights before Starship reached orbit.Roughly 121 meters tall, making it the tallest rocket ever flown.33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster alone.Why it matters: NASA is counting on Starship as a crewed lunar lander for its Artemis program, so every step toward reliability nudges the moon timeline.Bottom line: Reaching orbit is just the price of admission; landing on the moon is the final exam.
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