Overview
- Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas, on Monday, Sept. 28, starting a roughly 10‑hour mission that aims to complete about six orbits before the upper stage splashes down in the Pacific west of Chile.
- The flight carries 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites built in Redmond, Washington, a payload SpaceX calls its first revenue‑generating Starship mission because the satellites are intended for active service.
- Regulators cleared the mission after the FAA approved launch and reentry plans on Sept. 26 and SpaceX completed a wet dress rehearsal, with engineers applying hardware and software fixes to engines and the heat shield before liftoff.
- Mission controllers are conducting continuous telemetry and vehicle health checks; Starship will only execute its orbit insertion burn once critical redundancies are confirmed, while the Super Heavy booster is set to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico minutes after launch.
- Investors and analysts view the outcome as material to SpaceX's economics because reliable Starship reuse could sharply lower per‑satellite launch costs, enable larger Starlink capacity, and support future commercial and NASA lunar plans.