Overview

• SpaceX targets Monday, Oct. 13, with a launch window opening at 6:15 p.m. CDT from Starbase, Texas, with live coverage on its website and on X.
• The reused Super Heavy from Flight 8 will fly with 24 flight-proven Raptor engines and is slated to ditch in the Gulf of Mexico rather than return to the pad.
• Engineers will test a new descent profile that shifts from 13 engines to five and then three for the landing burn, ending with a brief hover and water drop.
• The upper stage carries eight mock Starlink payloads and will attempt an in-space engine restart, perform banking maneuvers, expose selected areas without heat-shield tiles, and target an Indian Ocean splashdown.
• SpaceX says the schedule could change and frames the flight as informing return-to-launch-site capability and Artemis-relevant design upgrades as China advances its own lunar goals.