SpaceX is preparing for Starship Flight 14, its first orbital launch attempt on September 28, after completing a wet dress rehearsal on September 24.
SpaceX has completed the wet dress rehearsal for Starship Flight 14, clearing the final major technical hurdle before the vehicle’s first orbital attempt. The launch window opens Monday, September 28 at 7:15 a.m. CT from Starbase, with Ship 41 targeting roughly six orbits at 275 km over nearly 10 hours. This mission marks a pivotal step for the Starship program, which has yet to achieve sustained orbital flight after 13 suborbital test flights.
SpaceX stacks massive Starship rocket ahead of 1st orbital
Flight 14 will be Starship’s first attempt to reach orbit, a feat the rocket has not accomplished in its 13 prior test flights. The Super Heavy booster, Booster 21, and Ship 41 underwent modifications to improve engine reliability and heat shield durability. SpaceX cited improved filtering to the engines and software changes to enhance relight reliability for the booster’s hardware upgrades. The improvements aim to ensure the vehicle can survive reentry and splashdown after a 10-hour orbital journey, a challenge that has yet to be tested on the Starship platform.
The Super Heavy booster will ignite its engines at T-0 and blast Starship skyward. After liftoff, the booster will detach from Starship, execute a flip maneuver, and perform a boostback burn to reenter the atmosphere for a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. During the last test flight, the booster successfully used all 33 of its Raptor engines for the boostback burn for the first time. The upper stage will target an altitude of 171 miles (275 kilometers) above Earth, staying in orbit for 10 hours as it circles the planet approximately six times before splashing down off Chile’s coast.
These satellites will add 26 terabits per second of capacity to the Starlink megaconstellation, which currently has 12,962 launched, 11,135 in orbit, and 11,121 operational. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has positioned Starlink V3 as a precursor to a larger network of more than 100,000 satellites, pending regulatory approval. Google confirmed its first orbital AI test satellite will be launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission on October 1, equipped with four Tensor Processing Units for burst Gemini model inference in low Earth orbit.
Starship Is About to Attempt Something It's Never Done
SpaceX’s Starship V3 boasts 18.1 million pounds-force of thrust, surpassing the combined power of the Saturn V and SLS Block 1 rockets. NASA’s published history gives the Saturn V 7.6 million pounds of thrust at liftoff. The current Space Launch System overview states that SLS Block 1 can generate up to 8.8 million pounds during launch and ascent. The addition is straightforward: 7.6 million plus 8.8 million equals 16.4 million pounds-force. Starship’s published 18.1 million exceeds this figure by 1.7 million, which is just over 10%. However, thrust alone does not guarantee orbital success. Flight 14’s 10-hour mission will test the vehicle’s ability to achieve and sustain orbital insertion, a critical step for NASA’s Artemis program and future lunar lander deployments.
SpaceX assembled a Starship-Super Heavy rocket on the launch pad at Starbase in south Texas early Wednesday while waiting for approval for the vehicle’s first orbital flight. Liftoff of Starship Flight 14 could come as soon as Monday, September 28, but first SpaceX needs to receive regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The rocket’s Starship upper stage, designated Ship 41 or S41, began its journey from a production site about three miles west of the pad at around 7:45 p.m. CDT (0045 UTC) Tuesday night. Nearly 5.5 hours later, the 52-meter-tall (171 ft) ship was hoisted by the launch tower’s chopsticks and placed atop Super Heavy booster B21. Stacking Starship ahead of Flight 14 pic.twitter.com/jLsgN2jj6d — SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 23, 2026. With the 124-meter-tall (407 ft) rocket assembled, SpaceX may conduct a full vehicle fueling test, known as a Wet Dress Rehearsal or WDR. Although, as of Wednesday morning, the City of Starbase has not announced any beach access or road closures. A temporary flight restriction (TFR) at Starbase was put in place by the FAA on Tuesday afternoon. It lasts from September 23 through October 7 for up to 10,000 feet above ground level.
Starship Flight 14 Clears Wet Dress for Monday Orbital
Orbital flight will mark a turning point for Starship. This is a critical obstacle the rocket must overcome to demonstrate full, rapid reusability and commercial viability. All past test flights have followed suborbital paths, but this time, Starship will target an altitude of 171 miles (275 kilometers) above Earth, remaining in orbit for 10 hours as it circles the planet about six times before splashing down off Chile’s coast. The Starlink constellation currently stands at 12,962 launched, 11,135 in orbit, and 11,121 operational. Nine Starlink satellites are listed in the current SOCRATES top-probability conjunction list, though none are marked as high risk. Seven Starlink satellites carry active reentry predictions from 18th Space Defense Squadron tracking.
Risk assessments for Starlink satellites include the following: MODERATE STARLINK-30487 STARLINK-36523 Operational 0.026 km, 9.158 km/s, 0.3404 probability at 15:50 UTC on September 27; MODERATE STARLINK-31456 CONTECSAT-1 Operational 0.015 km, 14.628 km/s, 0.2407 probability at 16:32 UTC on September 27; MODERATE STARLINK-3665 STARLINK-37714 Operational 0.056 km, 7.479 km/s, 0.106 probability at 04:07 UTC on September 29; LOW STARLINK-35881 COSMOS 397 DEB Non-operational 0.032 km, 6.941 km/s, 0.09877 probability at 03:53 UTC on September 26; LOW STARLINK-34926 STARLINK-37116 Operational 0.064 km, 0.632 km/s, 0.09233 probability at 01:28 UTC on September 27; LOW STARLINK-38012 STARLINK-37774 Operational 0.068 km, 0.001 km/s, 0.07636 probability at 16:22 UTC on September 25; LOW STARLINK-38012 STARLINK-37774 Operational 0.933 km, 0.001 km/s, 0.07636 probability at 16:22 UTC on September 25.
For SpaceX, Flight 14 is a stepping stone toward full reusability and commercial viability. The company aims to demonstrate controlled deorbit and reentry, a capability that has never been tested on Starship. If successful, the mission will pave the way for orbital refueling, lunar missions, and potential Mars exploration. However, regulatory approval from the FAA remains a prerequisite for launch, with the agency’s temporary flight restriction in effect through October 7. Assuming approval, SpaceX could launch Flight 14 as soon as 7:15 a.m. CDT (1215 UTC) on September 28, the mission will last nearly 10 hours, deploying 26 next generation Version 3 Starlink satellites.