SpaceX’s giant Starship has finally done what it was built to do — reach orbit.

The towering rocket lifted off from Texas on Monday and completed its first journey into Earth orbit, marking a major breakthrough for Elon Musk’s ambitious plans to make space travel more routine and eventually take humans back to the Moon and on to Mars.

The achievement came with a twist. The flight did not go exactly as planned. One of Starship’s engines shut down earlier than expected, forcing SpaceX to end the mission sooner than originally planned. But before the spacecraft came home, it managed to reach orbit and deploy 26 Starlink satellites, giving the mission a successful ending despite the setback.

Starship lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas at around 8:48 a.m. Eastern Time. The enormous vehicle, made up of the Starship spacecraft and its Super Heavy booster, rose into the morning sky in a powerful display of fire and smoke.

At nearly 400 feet tall, Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever developed. More importantly, SpaceX wants it to be reusable — meaning the same basic hardware could eventually fly again and again instead of being discarded after a single launch.

That vision is what makes this flight so important.

Starship had flown 13 previous full-scale test missions, but reaching orbit had remained a major hurdle. Earlier flights helped SpaceX learn how the vehicle handles launch, separation, re-entry and landing, but none had completed an orbital mission.

This time, Starship crossed that line.

After separating from the Super Heavy booster, the spacecraft continued its journey around Earth. One of its six Raptor engines later shut down unexpectedly. The problem raised concerns, but the spacecraft remained under control and continued towards orbit.

Then came the moment SpaceX had been working towards for years: Starship successfully entered orbit.

Cheers broke out at SpaceX’s mission control as the milestone was confirmed.

The spacecraft was also carrying something more useful than a test payload. It deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, marking Starship’s first operational satellite delivery. The satellites are designed to become part of SpaceX’s growing broadband network.

The deployment could prove particularly important for the future of Starlink. The massive size of Starship means it could eventually carry far more satellites in a single launch than SpaceX’s smaller Falcon 9 rocket, potentially allowing the company to expand its satellite network at a much faster pace.

The Super Heavy booster also made its way back towards Earth after separation. It completed a controlled return and splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, although an engine issue occurred during the return burn.

Starship’s own journey ended in the Pacific Ocean.

The spacecraft was supposed to remain in orbit for almost 10 hours and circle Earth several times. Instead, SpaceX brought the mission to an early close after roughly three hours. The spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere and splashed down north of Hawaii.

It was not a perfect flight. But for SpaceX, perfection was never the immediate goal. The test was about learning what works, finding what does not and collecting the data needed for the next attempt.

That approach has defined the Starship programme from the beginning. Some previous test flights ended dramatically, with vehicles exploding or breaking apart. Each one nevertheless provided engineers with information that helped shape the next version.

Monday’s flight offered something the earlier missions could not: proof that Starship can reach orbit and operate there.

The achievement also matters far beyond SpaceX.

NASA is counting on a modified version of Starship to serve as a lunar lander for its Artemis programme. The spacecraft is expected to play a role in future missions that aim to return astronauts to the Moon.

Getting there, however, will require much more than reaching orbit once.

SpaceX still needs to demonstrate reliable launches, repeated reuse, orbital refuelling and safe lunar operations. A future Moon mission would require Starship to be refuelled in Earth orbit before travelling towards the Moon.

That means Monday’s flight is a milestone, not the finish line.

For Musk and SpaceX, Starship is ultimately about changing the economics of space travel. A fully reusable rocket of this size could carry people, satellites and large amounts of cargo into space at a scale that current systems cannot match.

It could also open the door to missions that today remain largely theoretical — from building infrastructure around the Moon to sending humans deeper into the solar system.

After years of testing, setbacks and spectacular launches, Starship has finally reached orbit.

It carried satellites, survived its journey long enough to prove its capabilities and returned to Earth.

The next flight will bring another test, another set of risks and, potentially, another step towards making Starship the vehicle SpaceX believes could change how humanity travels beyond Earth.