The heavy Starship spacecraft was successfully launched and placed into Earth's orbit for a test flight; will be de-orbited in a couple of hours

 Elon Musk’s SpaceX creation will orbit the Earth several times at an altitude of approximately 275 km while deploying 26 Starlink satellites.

Ultimately, the spacecraft is designed for crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.

 In just two years, Starship is scheduled to land astronauts on the Moon's south pole—provided, of course, that all tests go well.

Update: 1. The spacecraft will be de-orbited in a couple of hours and ditched in the Pacific Ocean earlier than planned. 

The reasons for the mission's early conclusion are unclear; there had been earlier reports of engine issues on the second stage.

  2. SpaceX will not allow Starship to stay in orbit for 10 hours, as the company had originally planned.

Mission controllers, during a recent “checkpoint” analysis, decided to end the mission a bit early.