SpaceX’s 407-foot Starship megarocket is scheduled to launch on its first orbital flight test from Starbase in South Texas on Monday, Sept. 28, attempting to send its upper stage around the planet to deploy 26 next-generation Starlink satellites. According to SpaceX, the 75-minute launch window opens at 8:15 a.m. EDT, with live coverage beginning 30 minutes prior to liftoff.
Starship Flight 14 Orbital Test Objectives and Flight Profile
Standing at Starbase’s Pad 2, Starship is the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built. While the vehicle has completed 13 suborbital missions since its April 2023 debut, Flight 14 marks the first time the 171-foot Ship upper stage will reach Earth orbit. SpaceX states that the mission will deploy 26 Version 3 Starlink internet satellites, serving as the initial members of a planned megaconstellation in low Earth orbit that Elon Musk projects will eventually scale to 100,000 spacecraft. SpaceX currently operates roughly 11,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit.
Booster and Ship Splashdown Plans for the 14th Test
Unlike previous suborbital flights that lasted a maximum of 65 minutes and targeted the Indian Ocean off Western Australia, the Ship will circle the planet six times on Monday. It will then head home for a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile nearly 10 hours after launch. The Super Heavy booster will remain on a much shorter timeline, with a scheduled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff, matching the trajectory of earlier test flights.
Reusability Milestones and Future Technical Hurdles
SpaceX aims to make both stages of the megarocket fully and rapidly reusable—a breakthrough the company calls the “holy grail of rocketry.” While operational plans involve catching both Super Heavy and Ship at the launch tower using the “chopstick” arms, SpaceX has only caught the booster three times and has not yet attempted a tower catch for the Ship. Future missions beyond Earth orbit require off-Earth propellant transfer between tanker ships, a capability SpaceX has yet to demonstrate in flight.
Artemis Lunar Lander Preparations and Life Support Systems
Before launching crewed missions, the Ship requires outfitting with a life-support system. NASA selected Ship to serve as the first crewed lunar lander for the Artemis program, which targets a human moon landing on the Artemis IV mission in 2028. Before those flights occur, the vehicle must successfully clear its current orbital testing milestones and prove propellant transfer in space.
Schedule, dimensions, payload, and landing sites for Starship Flight 14
When is the Starship orbital launch scheduled?
The launch window opens on Monday, Sept. 28, at 8:15 a.m. EDT (7:15 a.m. local Texas time) from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas.
How tall is the SpaceX Starship megarocket?
When fully stacked, Starship stands 407 feet (124 meters) tall, making it the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built.
What is the payload for Starship Flight 14?
The flight will carry 26 next-generation Starlink Version 3 internet satellites into Earth orbit.
Where will the rocket stages land?
The Super Heavy booster will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff, while the Ship upper stage will splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile nearly 10 hours after launch.
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