SpaceX cuts short orbit around Earth splashing down after only 3 hours

SpaceX launches its enormous Starship into orbit for the first time successfully delivering the most advanced Starlink satellites yet.

But the flight was cut short, splashing down north of Hawaii just three hours after blasting off.

SpaceX launched Starship into orbit for the first time Monday aiming for six laps around Earth to prove its readiness for NASA's Artemis moon programme.

The spacecraft almost didn't achieve the long-desired goal after one of its engines shut down too soon.

But with everything else working well and the bad engine no longer needed, flight controllers decided after several tense minutes to proceed as planned.

Founder Elon Musk's showpiece rocket - the biggest and most powerful ever built - carried 26 of the latest and most advanced

Starlink satellites to join the 11,000 older models already providing internet service.

They popped out of the spacecraft one by one, drawing more cheers from SpaceX crowds looking on from the launch site at Starbase in Texas.

The company had been aiming for a 10-hour flight at an altitude of 275 kilometres circling the globe six times, ending with a splashdown near Chile.

But the spacecraft reentered over the Pacific splashing down north of Hawaii just three hours after blasting off.

The decision to end the flight early came from flight controllers deciding to play it safe and bring it back several hours sooner after just a couple of laps around Earth.

The starship tipping over and erupting in flames upon splashdown, a dramatic end to the mission.

DAN HUOT, SpaceX Spokesperson "Alright. X Starship has landed. As you saw, not quite an extra soft splash out like we had on the last one,

but Starship in the water nonetheless.