Overview

• SpaceX plans to launch Starship flight 11 today from Starbase, marking the final mission of the current version and the last from Launch Pad A.
• Objectives include an in-space Raptor restart, deployment of simulated payloads, reentry guidance trials with deliberately removed heat-shield tiles, and a new Super Heavy landing ignition profile.
• NASA selected Starship as the Human Landing System for Artemis III and IV, a strategy that depends on extensive in-orbit refueling that has never been demonstrated.
• Estimates cited by reporting range from roughly 10 to more than 40 tanker launches for refueling, a complexity NASA acknowledges is driving a schedule that is "significantly challenged."
• Analysts say success could bolster the U.S. path back to the Moon as China targets a crewed landing around 2030, while a failure could delay Artemis by years; Blue Origin promotes a crew-capable Blue Moon concept that would avoid orbital refueling.