Musk praises “epic” Super Heavy-Starship launch
Spaceflight Now – The leading source for online space news [Uno…
May 23, 2026
The Starship upper stage was equipped with six third-generation Raptor engines and one of three optimized for operating in vacuum shut down early during the climb to space. The flight computer kept the other five engines running longer than originally planned to make up for the shortfall, putting the craft on an acceptable sub-orbital trajectory.
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