SpaceX prepares to put Starship into Earth orbit for the first time

American company SpaceX is preparing for the 14th test flight of its giant Starship rocket on Monday, aiming to put it into Earth orbit for the first time.

The launch, from Starbase in Texas, follows approval from the US Federal Aviation Administration on September 26. It is scheduled for 7:15 am Texas local time, with a launch window of about 75 minutes.

The roughly 10-hour flight plans to deploy 26 next-generation Starlink satellites into orbit. All 13 previous flights since 2023 were limited to suborbital paths, and nearly half of them ended in explosions.

This time, the engine will be relit a second time in an attempt to place the spacecraft into orbit. After six orbits of Earth, the craft is planned to land in the Pacific Ocean near the coast of Chile.

If successful, this flight would move Starship from the testing phase into full operational use. Starship is being developed for future missions to the Moon and Mars.