SpaceX completes triple launch day and first orbital Starship flight; Rocket Lab wins Electron contract
SpaceX completed three launches in under 13 hours on 28 September, including its first orbital Starship flight that deployed 26 new Starlink satellites, while Rocket Lab secured a 20-mission Electron launch contract with Japan’s Synspective. The Federal Aviation Administration had approved the Starship-Super Heavy Flight 14 for a September 28 launch, aviationweek. com reported. SpaceX then lifted off the Starship vehicle from Starbase, Texas, and placed it into a roughly ten-hour low-Earth-orbit mission, CNN noted.
The spacecraft completed six Earth laps, tested heat-shield and engine performance, and released the batch of Starlink V3 satellites, according to ABC News. Ars Technica confirmed that the vehicle safely de-orbited over the Pacific after deploying the 26 satellites. A later CNN report said the successful flight led SpaceX to plan retirement of its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, raising concerns among satellite operators and NASA about launch capacity and crew transport.
