Starship reached orbit. It took years longer than SpaceX promised, and even this flight wasn't clean.
SpaceX's next-generation heavy-lift rocket, Starship, reached orbit for the first time, the company confirmed. The milestone caps a program that built its reputation on dramatic, occasionally explosive test flights. This time the vehicle made it where it was supposed to go. SpaceX has not detailed what went wrong, only that the flight involved what it called drama along the way.
Orbit is the bar Starship has been missing for years. It's also the precondition for everything SpaceX has stacked on top of this rocket: bigger Starlink satellites, Artemis moon landings, and eventually Mars. Reaching orbit with complications is real progress, but it is not the same as reaching orbit routinely, and routine is what actually matters for a vehicle meant to fly dozens of times a year.
Call it a win with an asterisk. SpaceX has cleared the bar it set for itself. Now it needs to clear it without the drama.