SpaceX Starship

What we know so far

• On 28 September 2026, Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time, on its fourteenth flight.^[2][3]
• Flight 14 deployed 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites into low Earth orbit.^[2][3]
• SpaceX ended Flight 14 after about three hours instead of completing the planned six orbits, and the upper stage made a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.^[2][3]
• By 28 September 2026, Starship had launched 14 times, with 9 successes and 5 failures.^[1]
• 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.^[4][5]
• As of 28 September 2026, SpaceX had not reconfirmed whether Flight 15 would attempt to catch the second stage.^[2]
• SpaceX is developing a crewed Human Landing System version of Starship under a NASA contract for the Artemis program.^[1][3]

Vehicle type

Two-stage, fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle^[1]

Stages

Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft, both powered by Raptor engines burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen^[1]

Active development since

2018 (concept work began in 2005)^[1]

Launches as of 28 September 2026

14^[2][3]

First orbital flight

Flight 14, on 28 September 2026^[2][3]

Super Heavy maximum thrust

80.8 MN from 33 Raptor engines^[1]

Block 3 Super Heavy height

72.3 m^[1]

NASA role

Crewed Starship Human Landing System for Artemis^[3]

Design

SpaceX is developing Starship as a two-stage, fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle made up of the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft, both powered by Raptor engines that burn liquid methane and liquid oxygen.^[1] Both stages are designed to return to the launch site and land vertically on the launch tower for possible reuse, and once in space the spacecraft is meant to operate on its own, carrying crew and cargo.^[1][3]

Super Heavy, which stands 72.3 m tall in its Block 3 version,^[1] uses 33 Raptor engines that together produce 80.8 meganewtons of maximum thrust, and its tanks hold 3,650 metric tons of propellant.^[1] The Starship upper stage has three sea-level Raptor engines and three Raptor Vacuum engines, giving 15,828 kilonewtons of maximum thrust, and carries 1,500 metric tons of propellant.^[1] Its payload bay holds the nosecone, header tanks, forward flaps, composite overwrapped pressure vessels and a payload dispenser; Starlink satellites are released into low Earth orbit through a PEZ dispenser.^[1] Four flaps, two forward and two aft, control the vehicle during atmospheric reentry.^[1]

Flight tests

Active Starship development began in 2018, building on reusable super heavy-lift concept work that SpaceX started in 2005.^[1] By 28 September 2026 the vehicle had flown 14 times, with 9 successes and 5 failures.^[1][2][3] Flight 5, on 13 October 2024, was the first to recover a Super Heavy booster, which the launch tower's arms caught.^[2] Flight 6, on 19 November 2024, carried Starship's first payload, a toy stuffed banana, and tested relighting an engine in space.^[2] Flight 7, on 16 January 2025, was the first flight of the Block 2 Starship spacecraft and carried 10 Starlink simulator satellites.^[2] Flight 12, on 22 May 2026, introduced the Block 3 version and was the first launch from Starbase's second launch pad.^[2] It deployed 20 Starlink mass simulators and two modified, functional Starlink V3 satellites, but its booster relit only 20 of its 33 engines for the boostback burn and hit the water at high speed.^[2] Flight 13, on 24 July 2026, deployed Starlink V3 satellites for the first time; after testing, they burned up in the atmosphere as planned.^[2] Its booster again struck the water, after a landing burn with too few engines.^[2] As of 28 September 2026, SpaceX had not reconfirmed whether Flight 15 would include an attempt to catch the second stage.^[2]

2:08 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.

First orbit

Starship reached Earth orbit for the first time on 28 September 2026, on Flight 14, the vehicle's first orbital mission.^[2][3] A Block 3 Super Heavy booster and a Block 3 Starship spacecraft lifted off from Starbase's second launch pad^[2] and entered an orbit at about 275 km altitude.^[2] The ship deployed 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites into low Earth orbit, about 44,000 kilograms of Starlink payload.^[2][3] One of the six engines on Ship 41, the upper stage, shut down early, but the vehicle continued to orbit once engineers confirmed it had adequate redundancy.^[2][3] SpaceX ended the flight after about three hours instead of completing the planned six orbits, and Ship 41 made a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.^[2][3]

0:17 Flight 14 lifts off NASASpaceflight, 1 October 2026: its own cameras at Starbase on the launch of Flight 14, the flight that reached orbit.

Flight 14 is recorded as a success in the list of Starship launches,^[2] though SpacePolicyOnline reported that the flight was shortened after an upper-stage engine cutoff.^[3]

Role in NASA's Moon landings

Under a NASA contract for the Artemis program, SpaceX is developing a crewed Starship Human Landing System (HLS) to carry astronauts between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.^[1][3] The design depends on cryogenic refueling from a fuel depot in Earth orbit.^[3] Writing in The Space Review, Jeff Foust noted that SpaceX's current Starship plan puts a lunar lander and lunar settlement ahead of its longer-term Mars ambitions,^[6] and that Elon Musk's advocacy for Moon and Mars priorities has been a recurring theme in reporting on the program.^[6]

NASA plans Artemis III as a demonstration in low Earth orbit involving Orion, Blue Origin's lander and a Starship test article, focused on testing rendezvous and docking.^[4][5] It is scheduled for no earlier than June 2027.^[4] The Starship HLS that NASA has contracted from SpaceX is the vehicle meant to carry astronauts between lunar orbit and the surface on the program's first crewed lunar landing.^[3]

Timeline

1. 2005 SpaceX begins developing concepts for a reusable super heavy-lift vehicle.^[1]
2. 2018 Active Starship development begins.^[1]
3. 2024-10-13 Flight 5 recovers the Super Heavy booster by catching it with launch-tower arms.^[2]
4. 2024-11-19 Flight 6 carries a toy stuffed banana as Starship's first payload and completes an in-space engine relight test.^[2]
5. 2025-01-16 Flight 7 carries 10 Starlink simulator satellites and is the first flight of a Block 2 Starship spacecraft.^[2]
6. 2026-05-22 Flight 12, the first flight of the Block 3 vehicles, launches from Starbase's second pad.^[2]
7. 2026-07-24 Flight 13 makes the first deployment of Starlink V3 satellites, on a suborbital trajectory.^[2]
8. 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.^[2][3]