Overview
- Flight 14 reached Earth orbit on Monday, Sept. 28, deployed 26 operational Starlink V3 satellites, but an upper‑stage Raptor engine shut down and SpaceX shortened the planned 10‑hour mission to roughly three hours before a controlled Pacific splashdown.
- SpaceX reported contact with all 26 satellites after separation and is recovering telemetry, camera footage and hardware for an internal engineering review.
- The Federal Aviation Administration said it will not open a formal mishap investigation because the flight stayed within authorized test activity.
- The upgraded Raptor 3 engines have shown problems on recent Starship flights, leaving engineers to determine whether the failures are isolated component faults or point to a broader design issue.
- NASA is continuing routine Crew‑13 preparations for an Oct. 1 Dragon launch and is investing in Boeing’s Starliner and courting other vendors to preserve U.S. crew access to low‑Earth orbit if Starship fixes delay Artemis milestones.