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Comment by bpodgursky

2 days ago

Starship has made orbit several times.

To be pedantic, Starship has made orbital velocity several times. It didn't circularize enough to be a full orbit. A full orbit would have been irresponsible. Blue Origin has left a massive trail of space junk from their last test mission because they went for an ambitious orbit rather than one that would passively deorbit immediately.

https://x.com/shell_jim/status/1891842756500222212

Kinda. They demonstrated orbital delta-v, but the perigee was always low enough to guarantee re-enter atmosphere after just half an orbit from launch, because of SpaceX's unreadiness to confidently perform a controlled de-orbit otherwise.