SpaceX sends its Starship rocket to orbit for the first time - but not without some hiccups

By William Gavin

SpaceX cuts the flight short after initially aiming to send it on a nearly 10-hour mission

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket to orbit on Monday for the first time. It's the 14th test involving the massive vehicle.

SpaceX has successfully put its Starship megarocket into orbit for the first time, a major accomplishment for the company.

The company's 14th test involving Starship hit an early snag on Monday after one of its Raptor engines was shut down early during an ascent burn. After several minutes during which SpaceX (SPCX) debated whether to attempt to put Starship in orbit, it ultimately decided to continue the mission. That choice appears to have paid off.

"Successful orbital insertion burn. Starship is in orbit," Jake Berkowitz, a SpaceX propulsion engineer, said on the company's livestream. "Huge milestone for the Starship teams."

The 407-foot-tall rocket was scheduled to embark on a nearly 10-hour mission in which it was to complete six orbits around the Earth before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. However, SpaceX decided to end the flight early, with Starship's upper stage splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after about three hours.

The mission was expected to help SpaceX test a slew of improvements to Starship and its Super Heavy booster, setting up what the company called the "next phase" of making the rocket fully reusable.

Despite the hiccups, Monday's mission should let SpaceX begin to recoup some of the $15 billion-plus it has spent on the rocket. Around $100 billion is also expected to be spent on a spaceport primarily dedicated to Starship.

Starship deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites in orbit, which collectively added about 10 times the capacity of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch. It's the first time that SpaceX has put its advanced V3 satellites to orbit.

"Each new V3 satellite has 10 times the capacity of an existing V2 mini satellite," Bernstein analysts led by Douglas Harned said in a client note on Monday. "Assuming even a modestly successful progression of Starship launches, Starlink capacity should be a non-issue."

Harned said that SpaceX's connectivity business could generate $64 billion in revenue in 2031, up from an estimated $17.5 billion this year, according to FactSet's compilation of analyst estimates. His forecast relies on Starlink capturing "essentially 100%" of satellite broadband customers in its chosen markets while taking market share from nonfiber broadband subscribers.

Harned noted that Starlink's broadband subscriber base is expected to double in 2026, extending its streak to five years. As of August, Starlink had more than 13 million consumer subscribers. It ended 2025 with about 9 million subscribers.

However, KeyBanc analysts led by Brandon Nispel said in a recent report that Starlink's monthly average users in August declined 17% relative to a year earlier. They expected Starlink to add 1.75 million net subscribers in the current quarter, below the Wall Street consensus of 2.3 million net customer additions.

"Furthermore, we view the high churn and limited net-add acceleration as positive to the terrestrial operators," Nispel added in his Sept. 21 report, referring to AT&T (T), Verizon Communications (VZ) and T-Mobile (TMUS). Those companies' stocks have been under pressure this year as investors have grown concerned about Starlink.

-William Gavin

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09-28-26 1321ET