Starship Flight 14 reaches orbit, deploys 26 Starlinks
SpaceX’s Starship completed its first orbital flight on Sept. 28, deploying 26 third-generation Starlink satellites before an early Pacific splashdown north of Hawaii. A Raptor engine shut down early on ascent, but controllers still cleared the orbit burn. NASA called the flight a step toward Artemis landings.
Starship is no longer only a suborbital spectacle. Spaceflight Now reported that Flight 14 lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 8:49 a.m. EDT on Sept. 28, lofting the Super Heavy–Starship stack on the program’s first trip to orbit after 13 suborbital tests. One Raptor on the upper stage shut down early during the climb. After reviewing telemetry, SpaceX proceeded with a single-engine second burn that finished orbital insertion at about 180 miles altitude.
A Pez-style dispenser then released 26 Starlink V3 satellites — the first operational payload for the new rocket, each described as having roughly 10 times prior-generation capacity. Controllers later chose an early end, bringing the ship down about three hours after launch with a controlled splashdown north of Hawaii instead of a longer multi-orbit plan that had pointed toward a Chilean splashdown. The Super Heavy booster also returned to a Gulf splashdown after a boost-back burn; tower catches remain paused for safety upgrades.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX publicly, tying the orbital milestone to Artemis timelines that still target a Starship-derived lunar lander later this decade. Skeptics note the tanker-flight cadence required for a 2028 landing remains unproven. Next engineering goals include longer orbital loiter, ship catch attempts, and propellant transfer demos. Florida pad construction continues as SpaceX prepares additional Super Heavy flights from the Cape later this year or early next. Primary documents linked below carry the figures used here. Check those URLs before treating tip-sheet summaries as final.
What we know:
Flight 14 reached orbit, deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, and splashed down early north of Hawaii after an ascent engine anomaly.
What we don’t:
How soon SpaceX will attempt a ship tower catch or on-orbit refueling after the abbreviated flight.
Where outlets agree Spaceflight Now, Reuters, and Ars agree Flight 14 reached orbit and deployed Starlink V3 satellites despite an early engine issue.
Where they differ Analysts split on how much the abbreviated mission and engine shutdown cloud the scorecard versus the orbital first.