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Posted on 09/28/2026 3:48:51 PM PDT by Libloather
SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket erupted into flames as it splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, prematurely ending its first successful flight into orbit.
The rocket soared into space early Monday but had to cut its scheduled 10-hour flight around the globe short to ensure safety, the company said.
The rocket splashed down just north of Hawaii three hours into its flight, with Starship tipping over and getting engulfed in flames in a dramatic end to the mission.
SpaceX’s historic launch nearly failed after one of its six engines shut down close to lift off, with flight controllers moving ahead with blast-off as all other equipment was working fine.
The short space flight also saw the company deploy 26 of its most advanced Starlink satellites yet, with the delivery of each satellite caught on camera.
The cargo was the new Starlink V3 satellites, which together would add 26 terabits per second to the world’s total internet bandwidth, or a 1% bump in total capacity.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on the launch as the space agency is working with the company to return to the moon in the coming years.
“Gorgeous launch, getting Ship to orbit and managing every step in a safe, responsible, and especially inspirational way,” Isaacman wrote on X.
Monday’s flight was Starship’s 14th full-scale launch out of SpaceX’s Texas base, with the company initially aiming to have the rocket circle the globe six times.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
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Whoa! SpaceX Starship’s Starlink deployment seen by ship and satellite cameras
GLAD I WOKE UP EARLY TO SEE THIS !!!!!!
Kind of an eye-roller of a headline; the tipping-over and blowing up was expected. They weren’t landing on a barge, just simulating a soft landing right on the water’s surface, so of course it tipped over. And it’s not designed to withstand that sort of impact, so yeah, it ruptured, released propellent while there were still flames from the exhaust and… kaboom.
Some of you might recall that that when they did the same thing on the test before this, it survived the tipping over, and was towed back to a port and loaded onto a ship to be taken back to the US. That survival was actually so unexpected that SpaceX hadn’t bothered with having any salvage capability nearby. They’ve pretty much all blown up after a water landing.
Would like to know more about the ‘safety issue’ that cut short its orbital tome though.
Still have TWO MORE DAYS!
“with Starship tipping over and getting engulfed in flames in a dramatic end to the mission.”
Wasn’t that the test plan? To set it down softly on the water; not catch it with “chopsticks” or land on a floating pad.
Thanks. Yes, that’s exactly what I read about the test plan. No “chopsticks” catch at a pad on land; no barge water landing. Do the required deceleration and then let it tip over.
Agreed about cutting the flight short. Wonder what that was about.
Ending its ONLY flight. Goodness, according to some Freepers this cannot happen to Space-X since they are far brainier than those who preceded them.
Starship Flight 14 was supposed to spend nearly 10 hours in orbit: six revolutions, then a deorbit burn and splashdown west of Chile. After reaching orbit and deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites, controllers brought Ship 41 home after about three hours into a pre-cleared box north of Hawaii.The trigger was not a new mid-coast failure. During the ship’s ascent burn, one vacuum Raptor shut down early. The other five engines burned longer and still put the vehicle on its planned passively safe suborbital path. Controllers then checked the three sea-level Raptors needed for insertion and deorbit, called them healthy, and allowed a short single-engine insertion burn. Payload deploy followed. A planned on-orbit checkpoint after that did not pass conservative flight rules, so they deorbited early.
The dead vacuum engine was no longer needed. Time still mattered because the remaining risk sat in shared systems and in one critical burn still ahead.
- Unknown common cause. If the engine-out came from vibration damage, contamination, a leak, or a pressurization or feed-system fault, that cause can still be present. A small leak or pressure trend can grow over hours until a header empties, tank pressure collapses, or a line ices.
- Harder deorbit start. Insertion happened about 25 minutes after ascent, while engines and lines were still warm and propellant was recently settled. The Chile deorbit would have been a single sea-level Raptor start after ~9 hours of vacuum cold-soak and microgravity slosh. That is a harder ignition. Burning at T+2:12 used an engine that had just proven it could light.
- Propellant and pressure drift. After an off-nominal longer five-engine ascent, residuals and ullage were less certain. More coast means more boil-off and more chance of a bad inlet condition at deorbit.
- Landing-zone control. Once circularized, the ship was no longer guaranteed to fall in the Indian Ocean. Lose the later deorbit burn and the ground track is no longer chosen. The northern Pacific zone was already cleared for this contingency.
Early return reduced risk by shrinking the window in which those problems could grow and by using control while it still existed.
- Deorbit while the engine was still proven. The insertion engine had just lit cleanly. Waiting six more hours would have required a cold, single-engine restart after thermal soak and slosh. Doing the burn immediately converted a future uncertain start into a start they had already demonstrated on this flight.
- Less time for a hidden fault to become a lost-deorbit case. A leak, pressure decay, iced line, or shared avionics/power issue needs time to cross a threshold. Three hours of exposure is less than ten. If the vehicle later could not fire, it would reenter on an unchosen ground track instead of a cleared ocean box.
- Use the contingency zone while attitude and propulsion still worked. The northern Pacific splashdown was planned before launch and already cleared of ships and aircraft. Early return put the vehicle into that box under command, rather than betting that command would still be available over Chile.
- Stop adding risk after the unique objectives were done. First orbit and operational Starlink V3 deploy were complete. Extra revolutions mainly tested long-coast thermal and duration behavior. On a ship that had already tripped a propulsion flag, those hours bought little new value relative to the chance of losing a controlled reentry.
Early return did not repair the failed engine. It used the remaining engine immediately, limited fault-growth time, and spent the remaining control authority on a pre-cleared water landing instead of an unattended six-hour coast.
The cargo was the new Starlink V3 satellites, which together would add 26 terabits per second to the world’s total internet bandwidth, or a 1% bump in total capacity.
Pretty impressive for a test flight...
“1% bump in total capacity”
I saw that. Incredible, isn’t it? The progress they’ve made on those Starlink satellites is astounding. These new V3 are the size of a small bus and over 2,000 pounds each! These are no longer the small V1 satellites.
Had to do the water landings and trigger the FTS (flight termination system) because the Feds demanded it. Was supposed to be a 2 tower catch.
Flight 15 should be even more amazing...
More worried about the Raptor 3’s... 2 on the booster and 1 on ship. Didn’t stop mission completion... but keeps a few things on the “let’s fix this for the next one” list.
huh, don’t ALL non-reusable rocket always end in a massive fireball as they burn up on reentry?
It was about eliminating risk. 6 orbits was a vanity. They wanted to guarantee controlled reentry to keep the short time-line to next launch.
An uncontrolled entry over land with a giant hunk of stainless steel that wouldn't burn up easily in the atmosphere.
It was awesome!
That’s what I finally figured out. Thanks.
Not a vanity to test a cold relight and hours of micro-g slosh in the tank.
Vanity was launching was the convertible car into solar orbit. :)
clearly need to tighten up launch the cadence.
I’m happy I bought a few shares at the IPO price. Gifts for the kids and grandkid.
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