SpaceX’s Starship megarocket will attempt to reach orbit for the first time on Monday, Sept. 28, marking a major milestone for the company’s largest and most powerful rocket ever built.
Liftoff is scheduled for 8:15 a.m. EDT (1215 GMT; 7:15 a.m. local Texas time) from SpaceX’s Starbase in South Texas, with a 75-minute launch window. Coverage will begin approximately 30 minutes before liftoff and can be watched live on SpaceX’s feed.
Starship stands 407 feet (124 meters) tall when fully stacked and consists of two stages—the Super Heavy booster and Ship upper-stage spacecraft—both designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. According to SpaceX, this reusability represents the “holy grail of rocketry.” The company views Starship as essential for enabling human settlement of the moon and Mars.
This will be Starship’s 14th mission overall, but the first orbital attempt. The rocket debuted in April 2023 and has completed 13 suborbital test flights. During Flight 14, the 171-foot-tall Ship will deploy 26 of SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink Version 3 internet satellites into low Earth orbit. These represent the first members of a new megaconstellation that Elon Musk has stated will eventually comprise 100,000 spacecraft. SpaceX currently operates approximately 11,000 Starlink satellites in orbit.
Ship will circle Earth six times before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile nearly 10 hours after launch. This represents a significant departure from previous suborbital flights, which lasted a maximum of 65 minutes and targeted the Indian Ocean off Western Australia’s coast. Super Heavy will separate and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff.
During operational flights, SpaceX plans to bring both stages back to the launch pad for capture by the tower’s “chopstick” arms. The company has successfully caught Super Heavy three times but has not yet attempted this with Ship.
Starship faces additional development milestones before crewed missions. SpaceX has not yet demonstrated off-Earth propellant transfer, a capability required for missions beyond Earth orbit. NASA selected Ship as the lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to land people on the moon for the first time in 2028 on the Artemis IV mission. The spacecraft will require a life-support system before carrying crews.
Key facts
- Starship launch window opens at 8:15 a.m. EDT (7:15 a.m. Texas time) on Sept. 28
- Starship is 407 feet tall and the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built
- Flight 14 will deploy 26 Starlink Version 3 satellites into low Earth orbit
- Ship will orbit Earth six times and splash down in the Pacific Ocean nearly 10 hours after launch
- Super Heavy will splash down in the Gulf of Mexico about 7 minutes after liftoff
- This is Starship’s first orbital flight after 13 suborbital test flights since April 2023
- NASA selected Starship as the lunar lander for its Artemis moon program