SpaceX Hopes to Fly Starship Around Earth for the First Time

SpaceX hopes to fly Starship all the way around Earth for the first time on September 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time, pending approval from regulators, according to Engadget.

That date is a short delay from September 22. On X, SpaceX called September 28 the earliest possible date, saying it could launch as early as Monday, September 28.

All past Starship flights were suborbital, like a high toss that falls back without circling Earth. Flight 14 would fly 171 miles high and circle Earth six times over 10 hours.

The cargo this time is real, not test weight. The upper stage would place 26 Starlink V3 internet satellites into the Starlink network to serve customers, the first V3 satellites to enter service. Each V3 can send 1 Tbps of data down to Earth, 10 times more than V2. It can receive 160 Gbps up from Earth, 22 times more than V2.

SpaceX will not try to catch the Super Heavy booster with the tower arms on this flight. The booster would splash down in the Gulf of Mexico a few minutes after launch. The upper stage would splash down in the Pacific Ocean near Chile after it finishes its jobs.

The plan follows Flight 11, which dropped off eight fake Starlink satellites and restarted a Raptor engine in space for the third time. SpaceX keeps details on its Starship Flight 14 launch page.

The broader context here is a shift from practice flights to real work in orbit. Short arcs test liftoff, stage separation, reentry heat and ocean landings. They do not test a long 10-hour cruise, steering across orbits, or dropping off many satellites up high. A 10-hour, six-orbit trip with 26 working satellites tests power, heat, steering and radio contact over much longer periods.

In my view, the real cargo is the tell. Fake satellites showed the delivery tool works. Flying 26 V3 satellites that go into service links Starship directly to faster Starlink service. Those 10-times and 22-times capacity gains only help if Starship can launch often and carry a lot each time. SpaceX states that starting with Flight 14, Starship will begin flying orbital missions to deliver Starlink V3 satellites and other cargo to space.

Worth flagging on reuse, skipping the tower catch fits the focus on the orbital job. Saving the booster can wait while SpaceX learns about long flight time and accurate delivery. Gulf and Pacific splashdowns mean both parts are thrown away for now while data is collected.

Looking past the test, if the September 28 window holds and approval comes, Starship moves from showing it can launch to showing it can work in space. That step makes large internet networks, shared launches, and longer work in orbit practical.