Starship Reaches Orbital Trajectory on IFT-3 — Key HLS Milestone

SpaceX's Starship/Super Heavy reached its target orbital trajectory for the first time on Integrated Flight Test 3 (IFT-3). A critical Artemis milestone was achieved during this flight: Starship performed an internal cryogenic propellant transfer between tanks — a precursor to the ship-to-ship orbital refueling required for HLS operations. An estimated 14+ tanker flights would be needed to fuel Starship HLS for a lunar mission.