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SpaceX Starship

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1. What we know so far
2. On 28 September 2026, Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time on its fourteenth flight, becoming the vehicle's first orbital mission.
3. On 28 September 2026, Flight 14 deployed 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites into low Earth orbit.
4. On 28 September 2026, SpaceX ended Flight 14 after about three hours rather than completing the planned six orbits, and the upper stage made a controlled Pacific Ocean splashdown.
5. As of 28 September 2026, Starship had launched 14 times, with 9 successful flights and 5 failures, according to Wikipedia's record of the flights.
6. As of October 2026, NASA planned Artemis III, an Earth-orbit test of rendezvous and docking between Orion and test versions of the Blue Origin and SpaceX landers, for no earlier than June 2027, according to Wikipedia's article on the mission.
7. As of 28 September 2026, SpaceX had not reconfirmed whether Flight 15 would include a second-stage catch attempt.
8. As of 20 October 2026, SpaceX is developing a crewed Starship Human Landing System variant under a NASA contract for the Artemis program.
9. Vehicle type: Two-stage, fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle
10. Stages: Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft, both powered by Raptor engines burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen (per Wikipedia contributors)
11. Active development since: 2018 (concept work began in 2005)
12. Launches as of 28 September 2026: 14
13. First orbital flight: Flight 14, on 28 September 2026
14. Super Heavy maximum thrust: 80.8 MN from 33 Raptor engines
15. Block 3 Super Heavy height: 72.3 m
16. NASA role: Crewed Starship Human Landing System for Artemis
17. Design
18. Wikipedia contributors record that SpaceX is developing Starship as a two-stage, fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle consisting of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, both powered by Raptor engines using liquid methane and liquid oxygen. The stages are designed to return to the launch site and land vertically on the launch tower for possible reuse, and the spacecraft is designed to operate as a standalone vehicle carrying crew and cargo after reaching space.
19. Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines generate 80.8 meganewtons of maximum thrust, and the booster's tanks hold 3,650 metric tons of propellant. The Starship upper stage uses three sea-level Raptor engines and three Raptor Vacuum engines, for 15,828 kilonewtons of maximum thrust, with propellant capacity of 1,500 metric tons. Block 3 Super Heavy stands 72.3 m tall. The payload bay contains the nosecone, header tanks, forward flaps, composite overwrapped pressure vessels, and a payload dispenser; a PEZ dispenser deploys Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. Four flaps, two aft and two forward, control atmospheric reentry.
20. Flight tests
21. SpaceX began active Starship development in 2018, after earlier reusable super heavy-lift concept work from 2005. SpaceX has conducted 14 Starship launches as of 28 September 2026: by Wikipedia's count, 9 were successful and 5 were failures. Flight 5, on 13 October 2024, was the first Starship flight to recover the Super Heavy booster by catching it with launch-tower arms. Flight 6, on 19 November 2024, carried a toy stuffed banana as Starship's first payload and completed an in-space engine relight test. Wikipedia contributors state that Flight 7, on 16 January 2025, was the first flight of a Block 2 Starship spacecraft and carried 10 Starlink simulator satellites. Flight 12, on 22 May 2026, was the first flight of the Block 3 version and the first from Starbase's second launch pad; it deployed 20 Starlink mass simulators and two modified functional Starlink V3 satellites, but its booster relit only 20 of 33 engines for the boostback burn and struck the water at high speed. Flight 13, on 24 July 2026, made the first deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, which burned up in the atmosphere after testing as planned, and its booster again struck the water after a landing burn with too few engines. As of 28 September 2026, SpaceX had not reconfirmed whether Flight 15 would include a second-stage catch attempt.
22. The first booster catch SpaceX's video of Flight 5, 13 October 2024: Super Heavy returns to the launch tower and is caught by its arms.
23. First orbit
24. Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time on 28 September 2026 on Flight 14, the vehicle's first orbital mission. The flight used a Block 3 Super Heavy booster and a Block 3 Starship spacecraft launched from Starbase's second launch pad. It deployed 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites into low Earth orbit, carrying approximately 44,000 kilograms of Starlink payload. The vehicle entered an orbit at approximately 275 km altitude. During the flight, one of Ship 41's six upper-stage engines shut down early, but the vehicle proceeded to orbit after engineers confirmed adequate redundancy. SpaceX ended the flight after about three hours rather than completing the planned six orbits, and Ship 41 made a controlled Pacific Ocean splashdown.
25. Flight 14 lifts off NASASpaceflight, 1 October 2026: its own cameras at Starbase on the launch of Flight 14, the flight that reached orbit.
26. Wikipedia's launch table labels Flight 14 a success, while SpacePolicyOnline reports that the flight was shortened after an upper-stage engine cutoff.
27. Role in NASA's Moon landings
28. SpaceX is developing a crewed Starship Human Landing System variant under a NASA contract for the Artemis program, intended to transport astronauts between lunar orbit and the lunar surface. The NASA-contracted Starship HLS is designed to require cryogenic refueling from an Earth-orbiting fuel depot. According to Jeff Foust writing in The Space Review, SpaceX's current Starship development plan emphasizes a lunar Human Landing System and lunar settlement before its longer-term Mars ambitions. The Space Review (Jeff Foust) records that Elon Musk's advocacy for lunar and Mars priorities has been a recurring theme in reporting about the program.
29. NASA's Artemis III mission is planned as a low-Earth-orbit demonstration flight involving Orion, Blue Origin's HLS vehicle, and a Starship test article, with an intended focus on testing rendezvous and docking operations. Artemis III is planned for no earlier than June 2027. NASA has contracted SpaceX to develop the Starship Human Landing System that would carry astronauts between lunar orbit and the surface for the first crewed lunar landing of the program.
30. Timeline
31. 2005: SpaceX begins developing concepts for a reusable super heavy-lift vehicle.
32. 2018: Active Starship development begins.
33. 2024-10-13: Flight 5 recovers the Super Heavy booster by catching it with launch-tower arms.
34. 2024-11-19: Flight 6 carries a toy stuffed banana as Starship's first payload and completes an in-space engine relight test.
35. 2025-01-16: Flight 7 carries 10 Starlink simulator satellites and is the first flight of a Block 2 Starship spacecraft.
36. 2026-05-22: Flight 12, the first flight of the Block 3 vehicles, launches from Starbase's second pad.
37. 2026-07-24: Flight 13 makes the first deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, on a suborbital trajectory.
38. 2026-09-28: Flight 14 reaches Earth orbit for the first time, deploys 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites, and ends after about three hours with a controlled Pacific Ocean splashdown.

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