SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft completed its first orbital flight on Monday, marking a significant step toward advancing Elon Musk’s vision of interplanetary travel and supporting NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the moon. However, the mission ended earlier than planned due to technical issues encountered during liftoff.

The rocket lifted off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, at 8:48 a.m. Eastern. Shortly after launch, one of the 33 engines on the Super Heavy booster failed, followed by another engine failing to reignite during a critical maneuver aimed at a simulated landing in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite these setbacks, the remaining engines compensated, allowing the booster to perform a relatively gentle descent.

The upper-stage spacecraft, known as Starship or Ship, proceeded into space where one of its six engines failed. In response, the five remaining engines fired longer than initially planned, allowing the spacecraft to achieve a circular orbit approximately 171 miles above Earth’s surface after a period of uncertainty broadcast during the live webcast. This marked the first time Starship reached orbit.

Following orbital insertion, Starship began deploying 26 next-generation Starlink satellites designed to enhance SpaceX’s global internet network. The original mission plan called for Starship to complete about six orbits around Earth before reentering the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Chile. However, due to ongoing engine issues, the spacecraft initiated an early deorbit burn just before 11 a.m., resulting in an unscheduled splashdown in the North Pacific near Hawaii.

The descent ended with a fiery explosion caused by leftover methane fuel igniting upon impact. This contrasted with the previous test flight, where the spacecraft’s splashdown was softer and left the vehicle largely intact. SpaceX commentators acknowledged the imperfect landing but emphasized the overall success of reaching orbit on the 14th test flight of Starship.

Starship is designed to be the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, standing 407 feet tall and consisting of a reusable booster stage powered by 33 engines, coupled with an upper-stage spacecraft. The ambition behind the project is to enable fully reusable, rapidly turnaround launches, significantly reducing costs and increasing payload capacity for a wide range of missions.

While this particular flight was conducted independently of NASA, the agency’s lunar ambitions rely heavily on Starship, which has been contracted as the lunar lander for the Artemis program. To support moon missions, SpaceX must demonstrate multiple technological milestones, including rapid consecutive launches and the in-orbit refueling of cryogenic propellants — capabilities not yet achieved.

SpaceX’s progress with Starship has faced delays beyond Musk’s original projections. The mixed results of Monday’s flight suggest the company may need additional orbital test flights to resolve persistent engine reliability issues before advancing toward these more complex objectives.

Financially, SpaceX’s recent public offering has seen volatile trading, with its stock price rising sharply after debut before falling and then gradually recovering to around $150 per share. How the partial success of this mission will impact investor confidence remains to be seen as the company continues to develop the Starship system.