SpaceX targets first Starship orbital launch on September 22

The fourteenth test flight of Starship will represent a major leap forward in the rocket’s development compared to its last test in July, which sent the vehicle on a suborbital trajectory into space before returning it to Earth without completing a full orbital cycle.

The company plans to place Starship in Earth orbit, a significant milestone that will enable it to test the vehicle on a longer-duration flight and deploy the first batch of Starlink V3 satellites.

The mission, pending regulatory approval, is expected to last approximately 10 hours. Starship will fly at an altitude of roughly 275 kilometers above Earth and complete about six orbital revolutions before landing in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Chile.

SpaceX plans to test launch, stage separation, reverse-thrust maneuvering, and ocean landing procedures for the booster, advancing the company’s goal of developing a fully reusable orbital launch system.