SpaceX's Starship reaches orbit on its 14th flight after engine scare

SpaceX's Starship has finally reached orbit. The world's largest and most powerful rocket lifted off from the company's Starbase facility in Texas at 7:48am local time on Monday (6:18pm IST). On its 14th test flight, Starship circled the Earth for the first time instead of briefly touching space and falling back.It nearly didn't happen. Shortly after the upper stage separated from its Super Heavy booster, one of Starship's engines shut down too early. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot told viewers on the live stream that the team had decided not to commit to orbit. Minutes later, engineers confirmed the ship could still perform the burn it needed. It did, and Mission Control announced "Starship is orbital" to loud cheers at the launch site.Starlink V3 satellites become Starship's first real payloadOnce in orbit at an altitude of about 275km, Starship released 26 Starlink V3 satellites one at a time.