SpaceX is preparing to send its massive Starship rocket toward orbit Monday, Sept. 28, in its 14th flight test, a long-awaited mission that could mark the first time the vehicle reaches orbit and begins deploying the company’s next-generation Starlink satellites.
The launch is planned from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas, with the flight designed to test whether Starship can reach orbit, release its payload and complete a controlled return to Earth.
The excitement around the mission is building as Starship faces its biggest test yet. SpaceX originally set its 75-minute launch window to open.
SpaceX has conducted 13 previous integrated Starship-Super Heavy flights, but those missions were deliberately flown on suborbital paths rather than being designed to reach orbit.
This time, SpaceX plans to send Starship into orbit and deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites, marking the first time these newer satellites are planned for deployment into orbit for operational use.
The spacecraft is expected to release them about 34 minutes into the mission if the flight proceeds as planned. The mission will begin with Starship launching on top of its booster.
After separation, the booster is expected to change course and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, while the upper-stage spacecraft continues toward orbit. SpaceX plans for Starship to circle Earth about six times before performing a controlled deorbit and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
The company says the spacecraft will also begin the mission on a “passively safe” trajectory, giving it a built-in path back to Earth if a problem occurs early in the flight. The mission is closely tied to SpaceX’s broader Starlink ambitions.
Successfully putting the 26 satellites into orbit would give the company another way to expand its satellite internet network while demonstrating the heavy-lift capability of Starship.
Yet the mission remains a test flight, and SpaceX has warned that weather, technical problems or other issues could force a delay and change in the flight plan.
