Elon Muskʼs company SpaceX successfully launched its Starship spacecraft into orbit.
CNN writes about this.
This flight was the first time Starship had reached Earth orbit. All of the previous 13 tests of the ship had been suborbital, with the rocket lifting off and falling into the ocean in about an hour.
This time, the spacecraft is expected to reach an altitude of about 275 km and make about six orbits around the Earth in ten hours, before landing in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
The rocket is carrying 26 new Starlink Version 3 satellites. This will be the first time Starship has attempted to deploy operational satellites directly into low-Earth orbit. Three of them are equipped with special cameras to check the condition of the shipʼs heat shields.
This flight marks the companyʼs transition from simple testing to real-world practical use of the system. The successful orbit and deployment of the satellites will be a key step in preparing for future Starship missions to the Moon as part of NASAʼs Artemis program and further flights to Mars.
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