SpaceX is planning the most ambitious test yet of its massive new rocket Starship on Monday, September 28, 2026, aiming to lift off from a pad in South Texas, circle the Earth, and land vertically at the same pad 22 and a half hours later, NPR reported.
Starship is the largest rocket ever built, but it cannot yet carry astronauts, according to Eric Gay/AP via a NASA announcement. Company founder Elon Musk hopes the vehicle will one day carry astronauts to Mars.
Shifting Away from Falcon 9
Experts say the rapid development of Starship could end up stranding one of the company’s biggest boosters over the years: NASA. SpaceX has said that as it ramps up its new rocket, it will stop flying a much smaller vehicle called Falcon.
The Falcon rocket lifts the firm’s Dragon capsule, which remains the sole U.S. spacecraft with the ability to transport NASA crew members to and from the International Space Station. According to Caleb Henry, director of research at Quilty Space, he told NPR that Dragon’s proven track record as a dependable vehicle solidified its status as the primary method for astronauts to reach orbit.
NASA announced in September that the space agency has contracted with SpaceX for three additional flights to the International Space Station. That would only allow Dragon to fly through 2028, assuming missions are flown consecutively in six-month increments and no further flights are contracted.
“The road trip to Mars is six months — so you don’t want to be in the minivan,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President, comparing the Dragon capsule to a minivan at the All In summit in Los Angeles in September. “We definitely want to move from the older technology to the newer technology.”
Commercial Launch Shortfalls
The retirement of the Falcon rocket will impact human spaceflight and the broader commercial market. NPR reports that a study from Quilty Space indicates a potential deficit of approximately 150 launches in the commercial sector leading up to 2030, a situation that has reportedly forced the Pentagon to search urgently for alternative launch options for its national security satellites.
The U.S. Space Force stated to NPR that it had secured Falcon 9 launches through 2028 and remained confident that other suppliers would pick up the slack. Tim Farrar, president of TMF Associates, told NPR that SpaceX has grown far beyond its launch business and is not making a large amount of money out of NASA.
“They were responsible essentially for SpaceX not going bankrupt,” Farrar told NPR, noting that NASA came through with a critical contract just before Christmas in 2008 when Falcon 9 suffered multiple failures. “One would hope that there’s a bit of loyalty.”
