DOMINANT ANGLE
Canberra is particularly focused on the real-time turnaround: Starship had nearly failed before mission controllers overturned their own verdict and declared orbit achieved.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The spacecraft deployed 26 new-generation Starlink satellites, joining the approximately 11,000 already in service, according to PerthNow and ABC News.
- 02
One of the three main engines shut down prematurely shortly after liftoff, prompting SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot to announce that the spacecraft would not reach orbit, before a reversal by mission controllers who proclaimed "Starship is in orbit".
- 03
The mission, planned for about ten hours and six orbits around the Earth at 275 kilometres altitude with a splashdown near Chile, was cut short to about three hours; the Super Heavy first stage fell back into the Gulf of Mexico.
ANALYSIS
Canberra, September 29, 2026. Australian dailies are reproducing, almost word for word, the account of the fourteenth test flight of Starship, launched on Monday from the Starbase complex, south of Texas. The SpaceX vessel, as tall as a forty-story building, reached orbit for the first time, a milestone that previous tests had never achieved: they never ventured further than the Indian Ocean, often crashing in flames after a brief passage near space, report the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
The scenario nonetheless came close to failure. Shortly after takeoff, one of the three main engines of the vessel shut down prematurely. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot initially announced live that the vehicle would not be able to reach orbit: "The team has decided not to proceed to orbit." A few minutes later, the engineers reversed course: with the other systems functioning normally and the faulty engine no longer necessary, the mission controllers chose to continue. "Starship is in orbit," the control center announced, under the applause broadcast from Starbase.
The vessel deployed 26 new-generation Starlink satellites, which join the approximately 11,000 already in service, according to PerthNow and ABC News. SpaceX aimed for six complete orbits of the Earth at an altitude of 275 kilometers over nearly ten hours, before a splashdown in the Pacific near Chile; the mission was ultimately reduced to around three hours. The first stage, the Super Heavy booster, was not intended to return to land at Starbase but to fall back into the Gulf of Mexico, where some of its engines shut down during descent, SpaceX specifies.
The Australian press is also relaying the caution displayed by Elon Musk, who recently mentioned at an economic summit the risk of a vessel disintegrating over inhabited areas: "Our popularity would drop very quickly," he warned, justifying the gradual tests before a return of the vessel to its launch tower. For Australia, this flight primarily confirms that Starship is moving closer to NASA's lunar program Artemis, without local media adding any analysis specific to the country: the account remains calibrated to that of the American agencies.
