SpaceX has released unique photographs of the Starship heavy-lift rocket system launch, which took place on September 28, 2026, at the Starbase spaceport in Texas. The published images provide a detailed look at the powerful Raptor engines operating and the launch complex infrastructure during the 14th test flight. This launch has become a major milestone in the history of modern astronautics, marking the company's transition to the practical operational use of the system.
Technical Breakthrough and Orbital Success
During this complex mission, the upper stage of the Starship spacecraft successfully reached low Earth orbit for the first time in history. This achievement was not stopped even by a technical complication that arose during the flight — the premature shutdown of one of the Raptor engines. Company engineers note that successfully reaching orbit after a series of previous suborbital tests proves the reliability and flexibility of the incorporated design solutions.
Contradictory Data
Despite the overall triumph of the mission and SpaceX's official reports on the successful payload deployment, discrepancies regarding the final stage of the flight appeared in independent sources. Thus, some European media outlets, citing unconfirmed operational reports, reported a possible explosion or abnormal situation after splashdown or during the final descent phase. At the same time, the company's official releases and specialized technical publications claim that the spacecraft deorbited nominally and performed a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Deployment of Starlink V3 Satellites
An important component of the 14th flight was the execution of the first operational payload delivery task. The spacecraft successfully deployed 26 new Starlink V3 communication satellites into orbit, with stable communication quickly established with all units. Service representatives emphasized that this batch will significantly expand the capabilities of the global network, adding up to 26 Tbps of total throughput. Each individual V3 unit is capable of providing up to 1 Gbps on the downlink and up to 160 Gbps on the uplink.
