SpaceX Targets September 28 for Starship Orbital Flight

SpaceX has scheduled the 14th test flight of its Starship rocket for September 28, 2026, shifting the mission from its previously announced date of September 22. The launch, which remains subject to regulatory approval, is intended to mark the first time the vehicle enters a sustained orbital trajectory. The company will utilize a 75-minute launch window beginning at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time for the attempt from its Starbase facility in Texas.

The mission profile involves the Starship upper stage reaching an altitude of approximately 275 kilometers and completing six orbits around Earth over a duration of nearly 10 hours. The flight will carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites, which are designed to remain in the constellation to provide network capacity. The Super Heavy booster is expected to perform a boostback and landing burn, with a planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, while the upper stage is slated to conclude its mission with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

Previous flight tests were intentionally conducted on suborbital paths to prioritize public safety and gather engineering data. SpaceX has implemented hardware and software modifications to address performance issues observed during the 13th flight test, which occurred on July 24. The upcoming mission is the 14th flight test of the Starship system.