Monday, September 28, 2026

Starship Attains Orbit and Provides a Preview to Artemis 3 on its 14th Flight...

SpaceX's Starship Super Heavy rocket launches on Starship Flight 14 from Starbase in Texas...on September 28, 2026.
SpaceX

Earlier today, SpaceX's Starship rocket successfully launched from Starbase in Texas at 7:49 AM, Central Daylight Time...commencing a flight that would mark the first time the giant launch vehicle achieved orbit, and deploying real payloads (26 Starlink V3 satellites) around the Earth.

This was the 14th launch of SpaceX's Super Heavy rocket since 2023. While Ship 41 didn't survive splashdown in the northern Pacific like Ship 40 did in the Indian Ocean after Starship Flight 13 two months back (see the ship's recovery photos below), its major achievement during today's demonstration provided a preview of what we can expect in NASA's Artemis 3 mission—which is currently scheduled to launch next year.

In the first two images below, you see a Starlink V3 satellite slowly floating away from Ship 41 shortly after deployment. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long to get this view of Starship again...but from inside the crew cabin of NASA's Orion spacecraft on Artemis 3. With Starship officially an orbital launch vehicle (it was an oversized suborbital spacecraft till this morning), the only thing needed for next year's Artemis flight is a mating adapter attached to the SpaceX craft that Orion will dock to as a test for the Artemis 4 mission.

Starship Flight 14 was a major success, and will definitely not have to deal with any mishap investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration. This means that the sooner the next Starship flight takes place, the better. More successful Starship missions brings us closer to the next crewed landing on the Moon!

A video screenshot of Ship 41 that was taken by a Starlink V3 satellite...one of 26 Starlink V3 satellites that were deployed during Starship Flight 14 on September 28, 2026.
SpaceX

A cropped version of the video screenshot showing Ship 41 as viewed by the Starlink V3 satellite during Starship Flight 14...on September 28, 2026. Notice the next Starlink V3 satellite that's about to exit the 'PEZ dispenser' above the two vertical feedlines at the center of Ship 41.
SpaceX

Art concepts showing NASA's Orion capsule docked to SpaceX's Starship vehicle on the Artemis 3 mission.
NASA




Posted by Richard Par at 2:25 PM
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