Overview
- SpaceX completed a wet dress rehearsal on September 24 and has the 407‑foot Flight 14 stack on the pad, keeping the mission on track for the 75‑minute launch window that opens Monday, September 28.
- Flight 14’s plan calls for an orbital insertion burn about 25 minutes after liftoff followed by roughly six laps at about 275 km over nearly 10 hours with satellite deployment shortly after insertion.
- The upper stage will carry 26 production Starlink V3 satellites that are intended to enter service and add substantial capacity, while three payloads will image the heat shield before reentry.
- SpaceX has installed hardware and software fixes after Flight 13, including improved engine filtering, updated relight software, extra heat‑shield tile fasteners and two reused tiles, and it will only attempt orbital insertion after controllers confirm return‑burn redundancy.
- Launch still requires an FAA license and other clearances, and SpaceX’s flight‑health checks could shorten the mission or alter recovery zones with planned splashdowns in the Gulf of Mexico for the booster and the Pacific west of Chile for the ship.