SpaceX Starship full stack, Starbase, Texas (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
SpaceX Starship launch: Where and when to watch Flight 14
SpaceX has pushed back Starship Flight 14, the rocket’s first attempt at a full orbital mission, from September 22 to September 28, 2026, after moving Super Heavy Booster 21 to the launch pad at Starbase, Texas.
Starship Flight 14 is now targeted for September 28, 2026, from Starbase, Texas.
The launch window opens at 8:15 am EDT (12:15 UTC), with a 75-minute duration.
The flight was delayed from its original September 22 target date.
It is intended to be Starship’s first full orbital mission, deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites.
Super Heavy Booster 21 and Ship 41 will fly the mission.
Flight 14 is intended to be Starship’s first true orbital mission; earlier flights had only flown ‘passively safe’ suborbital trajectories that avoided a full orbit.
The mission plan calls for deploying 26 Starlink V3 satellites during the flight.
Ship 41 is expected to complete six orbits of Earth before a planned splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, about 10 hours after liftoff.
Unlike some earlier flights, Super Heavy Booster 21 will not attempt a catch at the launch tower; instead it is set to perform a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
SpaceX said it made unspecified ‘modifications to hardware and software’ to address issues seen on the previous Starship flight.
For the first time on a Starship mission, SpaceX plans to fly two previously recovered heatshield tiles, marking an initial step toward heatshield tile reuse.
Starship launches from Starbase, SpaceX’s private launch site near Boca Chica in South Texas.
Starship is designed to be fully reusable and is central to SpaceX’s plans for satellite deployment, Moon missions under NASA’s Artemis programme, and eventual Mars missions.
The vehicle consists of the Super Heavy booster as the first stage and the Starship upper stage, both powered by SpaceX’s Raptor engines.
SpaceX delayed Starship Flight 14 from September 22 to September 28, 2026, without publicly specifying a reason.
The new launch window opens at 8:15 am EDT (12:15 UTC) on September 28, with a 75-minute window.
Flight 14 will use Super Heavy Booster 21 (B21) and Ship 41 (S41), both part of the newer Starship Block 3 vehicle design.
SpaceX Starship full stack, Starbase, Texas (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0