SpaceX will deorbit its Starship spacecraft earlier than originally planned during its first test orbital flight, which was launched on Monday, the developer said.
Instead of the planned 10-hour flight and six orbits around Earth, the flight will last only three hours. Starship will be deorbited over a designated area of the northern Pacific Ocean for a soft splashdown. The decision was made after one of the spacecraft's six engines failed as it entered a full orbital flight around Earth.
Starship is currently at its nominal altitude of about 275 kilometers above Earth. During the flight, it has already deployed 26 Starlink internet satellites.
The spacecraft was launched atop the Super Heavy booster from SpaceX's Starbase launch site in Boca Chica, southeastern Texas, at 12:48 local time (1548 Kyiv time).
Two of the booster's 33 engines also failed during the flight, but this did not prevent it from placing Starship into orbit, SpaceX said. The booster then successfully splashed down in the Gulf of America (Gulf of Mexico) about nine minutes after launch.
The reusable launch system, consisting of the Starship spacecraft and the Super Heavy heavy-lift booster, stands more than 120 meters tall. It is taller than any other rocket ever built. The Super Heavy booster is twice as powerful as NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket designed for crewed lunar missions.
The rocket has already made 13 test suborbital flights, eight of which were successful. The latest successful flight took place in late July.
