SpaceX plans Starship’s first trip around Earth for Sept. 22

SpaceX is preparing to do something it has never done with Starship: send the spacecraft all the way around Earth.

The company is targeting Tuesday, Sept. 22, for Starship Flight 14 from Starbase in Cameron County, pending regulatory approval. The 75-minute launch window is scheduled to open at 7:15 a.m.

The flight would be a major change from Starship’s previous tests. Those flights went into space but followed paths that brought the spacecraft back down before completing an orbit around Earth.

This time, SpaceX plans to put Starship into orbit, circle Earth about six times and keep the spacecraft in space for nearly 10 hours.

Starship would also carry a real payload for the first time: 26 of SpaceX’s new Starlink V3 internet satellites. SpaceX had planned to test deployment of next-generation Starlink satellites during earlier flights as it moved Starship closer to becoming an operational launch vehicle, including during Flight 13 from Starbase.

What will happen after launch

If everything goes according to plan, Starship will separate from its Super Heavy booster a little more than two minutes after liftoff.

The booster will then head back toward the Gulf for an offshore splashdown. SpaceX is not planning to return it to the launch site for a catch.

Starship will continue toward space. About 25 minutes after liftoff, SpaceX plans to fire its engines again to put the spacecraft into orbit about 171 miles above Earth.

The company will then begin releasing the 26 Starlink satellites.

Starship is expected to spend nearly 10 hours in space and make about six trips around Earth.

Near the end of the flight, SpaceX plans to restart one of Starship’s Raptor engines to take the spacecraft out of orbit. Starship would then reenter Earth’s atmosphere and attempt a controlled splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.

SpaceX said it will only put Starship into orbit if the flight control team determines the spacecraft has enough working backup systems to safely perform that later engine burn and leave orbit.

Starship will deliver its first satellites

Flight 14 would also test whether Starship can do one of the jobs SpaceX ultimately built it to do: carry large amounts of cargo into orbit.

Its first payload will be 26 Starlink V3 satellites, the newest generation of satellites for SpaceX’s satellite internet network.

SpaceX says each satellite can add 1 terabit per second of capacity to the Starlink network. Together, the 26 satellites would add 26 terabits per second — about 10 times as much capacity as a typical Falcon 9 launch carrying the company’s smaller V2 Mini satellites.

Once released, the satellites will unfold their solar panels and antennas, connect with the Starlink network and gradually move into their final orbits.

SpaceX expects them to begin providing internet service within a few weeks.

Three of the satellites will also carry cameras pointed at Starship. Those cameras will take pictures of the spacecraft’s heat shield as it travels through space, giving SpaceX another way to determine how well the protective tiles are holding up.

SpaceX is trying to fix problems from Flight 13

Flight 14 will also test changes SpaceX made after problems with the Super Heavy booster during Flight 13.

That flight followed an earlier launch attempt that was scrubbed during the final countdown at Starbase.

On Flight 13, all 33 booster engines successfully fired during the maneuver that began sending Super Heavy back toward the Gulf.

But ice appeared to clog the three center engines near the end of the maneuver, causing it to stop early.

When Super Heavy later attempted its landing burn, only eight of the 13 engines that were supposed to restart did so. The booster hit the water hard instead of completing the planned splashdown.

SpaceX said it has changed hardware designed to filter material going to the engines and updated its software to make the engines more likely to restart properly.

The company is also continuing to work on Starship’s heat shield, which protects the spacecraft from extreme temperatures when it returns through Earth’s atmosphere.

Flight 14 will test changes intended to keep the protective tiles attached to Starship. SpaceX also plans to reuse two heat-shield tiles recovered from the previous Starship, marking the first time the company has flown used heat-shield tiles on another Starship.

The company’s recent test program has included setbacks as well as advances. Earlier this year, the Federal Aviation Administration required SpaceX to investigate problems following Flight 12 before additional Starship launches could proceed, as the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal previously reported.

If Flight 14 reaches orbit, it would move Starship into a new stage of testing. Instead of simply proving that the massive rocket can reach space and return, SpaceX would begin testing whether Starship can stay in orbit, deliver satellites and safely bring itself back down — capabilities it will need to become a reusable working rocket.