Tag: Starship
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NASA Sets Artemis III Around Three Launches, With Blue Origin’s Lander Flying First
Artemis III is now planned as a low-Earth-orbit checkout and rendezvous campaign rather than a single-launch profile or an immediate surface landing. It is designed to exercise the three major flight elements together, gather operational data, and build experience ahead of a later crewed lunar landing attempt. Isaacman framed the approach as a deliberate departure…
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Starship Engine Failure Raises Schedule Risk for NASA’s 2028 Moon Landing
Starship is one of two vehicles competing to become the first craft NASA uses to land humans on the Moon, an objective the agency has targeted for as early as 2028. Blue Origin is developing the competing lander. The engine failure was tied to a Starship test campaign, and it reads directly through to the…
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Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time, Deploys 26 Starlink V3 Satellites
Earlier Starship missions reached space and demonstrated satellite deployment, but Flight 14 placed a working payload into Earth orbit. The flight showed how SpaceX intends to use Starship to expand Starlink far faster than it can with Falcon 9. The Super Heavy booster splashed down in the Gulf following stage separation. Starship remained in orbit,…
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SpaceX Sets Starship’s First Orbital Flight for Sept. 28 With Starlink V3 Deployment
Starship Flight 14, also designated Starlink Group 31-1, is scheduled to lift off at 7:15 am CDT with a 75-minute launch window. Backup opportunities run from Sept. 29 through Oct. 4. The flight follows a suborbital test program that SpaceX pursued specifically to avoid stranding an uncontrolled 52-meter-long, nine-meter-wide, 160-metric-ton vehicle in orbit. Those missions…
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Elon Musk Says Starlink Could Carry Most Global Internet Traffic Within a Decade
SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk said on September 23, 2026, that Starlink could carry the majority of global internet traffic within ten years, an ambitious forecast tied to the deployment of higher-capacity Starlink V3 satellites and proposed Starmind spacecraft combining broadband connectivity with orbital computing. The projection would represent a fundamental change in internet infrastructure.…
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Exolaunch Books First SpaceX Starfall Earth-Return Mission for 2029
Exolaunch has signed a contract with SpaceX to serve as payload integrator for a Starfall mission targeted to launch aboard Starship no earlier than 2029, marking the German company’s first commitment to Starship and its first mission involving the return of customer payloads from orbit. Announced on September 21, the agreement expands Exolaunch beyond conventional…
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SpaceX Rolls Super Heavy to Launch Pad for Starship’s First Orbital Flight
SpaceX moved the Super Heavy booster assigned to Starship Flight 14 to the launch pad at Starbase, Texas, on September 21, advancing preparations for the vehicle’s first orbital mission. Targeted for September 28 pending regulatory approval, the flight is expected to complete six Earth orbits and deploy 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites. The booster, identified…
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Exolaunch Books Customer Payloads on Starship-Launched Starfall Reentry Mission
German launch integrator Exolaunch announced Sept. 22 that it will aggregate and integrate customer payloads for a SpaceX Starfall reentry mission scheduled to launch aboard Starship no earlier than 2029. The agreement represents both Exolaunch’s first commitment to a Starship mission and its first move into services designed to return commercial payloads from orbit. Exolaunch…
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SpaceX Targets September 28 for Starship’s First Orbital Flight as Florida Pad Nears Readiness
SpaceX is targeting no earlier than September 28 for Starship Flight 14, pending regulatory approval, in what would be the vehicle’s first orbital mission after 13 suborbital flight tests. The mission is expected to carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites and comes as SpaceX moves Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center toward operational status,…
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Starship Flight 14 Targets First Earth Orbit and 26 Starlink V3 Deployments
SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, September 22, 2026, for Starship’s 14th flight test from Starbase in South Texas. The mission would be Starship’s first attempt to enter Earth orbit and is planned to deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites. A 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. Central time, pending regulatory approval. Previous Starship tests followed suborbital…