Starship has already reached orbit many times but places itself on a suborbital trajectory to intentionally test re-entry and landing which it has done successfully several times.

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fluoridation 5 days ago | parent [-]

Wrong. Starship has yet to orbit the planet. Certainly not "many" times, considering this is only its tenth flight.

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Sparyjerry 4 days ago | parent [-]

They've already demonstrated they can orbit, they just choose not to. Reaching orbit and orbiting the planet are two different things. Saying that that is not reaching orbit is like saying McDonalds is failing at serving breakfast all day because they chose not to serve breakfast after 11:00 to meet their goals.

	▲	fluoridation 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		>Reaching orbit and orbiting the planet are two different things. LOL. Are you serious? To reach orbit: to reach a horizontal speed such that the spacecraft can complete a revolution around the celestial object while in free fall, without having to execute any additional maneuvers. Starship has yet to reach orbit. The reason doesn't matter. It hasn't done it.