Musk says Starship will attempt first orbital flight Sept. 28

SpaceX is preparing to send its Starship rocket into orbit for the first time, with the 14th test flight of the vehicle now targeted for Monday, September 28, from the company's Starbase facility in southern Texas. Elon Musk confirmed on Monday that the mission will carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites — the first revenue-generating cargo ever loaded onto the rocket.

"In seven days, the first Starship launch to orbit will be carrying Starlink V3 satellites intended for operational use," Musk posted on X, quoting a SpaceX video of the Super Heavy booster being moved to the launch pad.independent+1

The Most Ambitious Starship Mission Yet

The mission profile marks a leap beyond all prior Starship tests, which stayed on intentionally suborbital trajectories. During the nearly 10-hour flight, the upper stage is expected to climb to roughly 275 kilometers, complete six orbits of Earth, and deploy its satellites before a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. The Super Heavy booster will attempt a separate splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico minutes after liftoff. SpaceX will not attempt to catch either stage with the launch tower's mechanical arms.TechCrunch+2

The launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. Central Time, pending regulatory approval. SpaceX had originally targeted September 22 before pushing the date back by six days without explanation, according to Aviation Week. The company posted the revised date on X on September 17, noting it was "still pending regulatory approval".Engadget+2

Starlink V3 and the Revenue Stakes

The payload is what sets Flight 14 apart from its predecessors. Each V3 satellite is designed to deliver about 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity, roughly 10 times that of the current V2 generation. SpaceX chief financial officer Bret Johnsen told a Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ↘ 1.38% conference this month that the mission will be Starship's first revenue-generating flight.spacex+2

Starlink subscribers reached 12 million at the end of June, double the figure from a year earlier, and SpaceX has said all future East Coast Starlink missions will fly on Starship rather than Falcon 9. The previous Starship test in July carried 20 V3 satellites as non-operational test units and completed SpaceX's first successful upper-stage splashdown without an explosion.billionaires+1

What Rides on the Flight

The stakes extend well beyond SpaceX's commercial ambitions. NASA has tied its Artemis program to Starship, with the agency planning to use a modified version of the vehicle for a crewed orbital demonstration as early as next year ahead of a Moon landing on Artemis IV in 2028. NASA added three missions worth $946 million to SpaceX's order book on Friday. Pivotal Research initiated coverage of SpaceX with a Buy rating and a $220 price target, arguing the company's valuation depends on demonstrating Starship reuse at scale.independent+1