SpaceX prepares to send Starship rocket to orbit for first time

SpaceX launched its massive Starship rocket early Monday, sending the spacecraft into orbit for the first time from its company town and launch facility in Starbase, Texas.

Starship reached orbit around 8:15 a.m. local time with SpaceX employees in attendance at the launch loudly cheering the milestone.

During the 14th test flight for Starship, Elon Musk's aerospace and defense company also successfully deployed 26 of its new Starlink V3 satellites.

A livestream of the test flight on social network X, which is owned by SpaceX, showed the rocket taking off at 8:48 a.m. ET, or 7:48 a.m. local time, from Starbase.

The ship's booster made a "soft splashdown" off the coast of Starbase a few moments after launch, while the Starship spacecraft continued to climb with one of its vacuum engines going out in sub-orbital trajectory.