SpaceX is set to launch its massive Starship rocket early Monday in an attempt to reach orbit for the first time with the spacecraft.
According to SpaceX, the 75-minute launch window is scheduled to open at 8:15 a.m. ET, or 7:15 a.m. local time, from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it issued a “license authorization for the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Flight 14 launch and reentry operations” on September 26. During the 14th test flight, SpaceX also plans to deploy 26 of its new Starlink V3 satellites.
Starship is central to SpaceX’s plans to expand its Starlink connectivity business, which was the company’s largest and only profitable segment in the second quarter. SpaceX currently operates around 11,000 active satellites in orbit, compared with roughly 650 operated by competitor Eutelsat OneWeb.
Speaking during SpaceX’s earnings call in August, Elon Musk said Starlink could eventually deliver a majority of the world’s internet access in countries where the service is permitted to operate.
SpaceX has designed Starship and its Super Heavy booster to be fully reusable, with the aim of carrying more cargo into orbit at a lower cost than previous spacecraft. None of the rocket’s 13 earlier test flights was intended to reach orbit, making Flight 14 a significant test for the programme.
The company is also preparing Starship for a major NASA test flight next year and plans to use the rocket to return US astronauts to the lunar surface.
SpaceX Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said earlier this month that the company plans to use Starship to put “supercompute in space,” including launching AI computing satellites into orbit in 2027.
The Starlink V3 satellites scheduled for deployment are produced at a SpaceX facility in Redmond, Washington. The satellites feature solar arrays capable of generating twice as much power as previous generations and are larger and designed to transmit data more rapidly to Starlink subscribers.
Boluwatife Enome
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