Starship Flight 14
Today, September 28 · window 7:15 a.m. CT · Starbase Pad 2
Ship 41 · Booster 21
This is the first time SpaceX plans to put Starship in orbit.
Every flight before this was a safe suborbital arc on purpose. Learn fast. Don't drop hardware on a city. Flight 14 is different: ~275 km, about six orbits, ~10 hours, then a deorbit burn and splash in the Pacific west of Chile. Booster splashes in the Gulf. No tower catch this time.
Payload is the point. 26 operational Starlink V3s. First real cargo off this vehicle. Three of them photograph the heat shield on orbit.
The last 13 flights were the homework:
1–2 exploded.
4 proved it can fly.
5 caught the booster.
7–9 hurt.
12 opened Pad 2.
13 brought a ship back out of the water.
Falcon already made launch routine — 700+ flights, ~99%.
Starship has to make payload to orbit and home routine. Watch the window, not the rumor.
ALT Starship Flight 14, first Orbital Flight.