SpaceX is targeting September 28, 2026, for Starship Flight 14 from Starbase, Texas, attempting the megarocket’s first orbital trajectory, a 10-hour duration, and the deployment of 26 operational Starlink V3 internet satellites.
After more than 40 months of developmental test flights, SpaceX is preparing for its most consequential test yet. The company scheduled Flight 14 for September 28, 2026, aiming to push the towering 400-foot stainless steel vehicle past its previous suborbital limits and fly farther and longer than it has ever flown, with a definitive destination of Earth orbit. Operations at the billionaire Elon Musk-owned enterprise will see the rocket lift off from its private pad in Starbase, Texas, as early as 8:15 a.m. ET on Monday, Sept. 28.
Liftoff from the company’s private pad in Starbase, Texas, is targeted during a 75-minute window opening at 8:15 a.m. EDT (1215 GMT). If successful, the mission will stretch across approximately 10 hours from liftoff to splashdown, dwarfing the roughly one-hour duration of previous suborbital missions. Viewers can watch the South Texas launch via a broadcast on the company’s website and X—the social media platform also owned by Musk—with coverage slated to begin around 7:45 a.m. ET, or about 30 minutes before liftoff. The team has until 9:30 a.m. ET to get it off the ground.
Orbital Mechanics and Flight 14 Trajectory Plans
Previous test flights have intentionally stayed passively safe and suborbital, allowing gravity to pull the spacecraft back toward the ground. To enter orbit, however, the vehicle must achieve lateral speeds of 17,500 mph. At that velocity, the spacecraft continuously falls toward the ground while Earth’s surface curves away at the exact same rate, allowing it to stay aloft without crashing.
During Flight 14, the vehicle will climb to an altitude of roughly 170 miles (275 kilometers)—well below the 250-mile orbit of the International Space Station—and circle the planet around six times. Flight controllers will monitor thousands of data points regarding engines, computers, navigation, fuel tanks, and communications while the vehicle is in space.
“Starship will only execute a burn to enter orbit after the flight control team has ensured there is sufficient redundancy on hardware critical to doing the subsequent deorbit burn at the end of the mission.”
SpaceX, Flight 14 Mission Page
If telemetry indicates any issues during the flight, controllers retain the option to skip the orbital insertion burn and allow the vehicle to arc back toward Earth for a splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
Hardware Modifications and Booster 21 Objectives
Both stages of the megarocket are designed for full and rapid reusability, a goal SpaceX characterizes as the holy grail of rocketry. While the company has successfully executed three mid-air catches of the Super Heavy booster using Mechazilla arms at Starbase, Flight 14 will not feature a booster catch.
Instead, the Super Heavy booster designated Booster 21 will perform a boostback burn and a landing burn before splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX noted that it implemented hardware modifications to improve filtering to the engines and software changes to enhance relight reliability, relying on a controlled watery descent to verify these updates before risking launch infrastructure at Starbase.
Deploying Operational Starlink V3 Satellites
Beyond testing the spacecraft’s orbital endurance and heat-shield tiles, SpaceX is utilizing the flight to deploy a stack of 26 operational Starlink Version 3 (V3) satellites. Unlike dummy payloads or unserviceable test units flown previously, these spacecraft are designed to enter active commercial service within a few weeks of deployment.
To assist engineering evaluations, three of the V3 Starlink satellites carry integrated cameras directed backward at the upper stage to inspect the integrity of Starship’s heat-shield tiles following deployment in low Earth orbit. At the conclusion of the 10-hour test, the upper stage will execute a final deorbit burn, concluding with a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
