🚀 Starship reaches orbit — one engine short

On its seventh test flight, SpaceX's mega-rocket finally made it to Earth orbit — after briefly giving up on the idea. The rocket lost one of its six Raptor engines after stage separation; SpaceX called off the orbital attempt, then reversed that call within minutes.

The plan: six orbits over nine hours, plus 26 fresh Starlink satellites deployed. How the engine loss affected that is still unknown. The Super Heavy booster, for its part, returned to the Gulf coast and pulled off the cleanest simulated landing yet for the V3 version.

Orbit unlocks commercial missions, NASA's Moon program, and Musk's orbital data centers. One engine short, full speed ahead.

TechCrunch