Constant communication is what makes autonomy like this safe. Early contact lets us take maneuvering responsibility, publish ephemeris faster than ground radar can catalog the object, and deorbit and keep commanding through demise if needed We treat early communications as a requirement, not a nice-to-have

I hope everyone at IAC this week enjoyed the important talk tonight on space safety. We encourage all satellite operators to share ephemeris data and promote safe use of space for everyone. space-safety.com

Highlight Lecture: Sustainability and Safety of Large Satellite Constellations from the Starlink Perspective Looking Forward There is a bright and exciting future for humanity ahead – and space is fundamental to that future. To achieve this, space safety must be done right. We encourage every operator to not only share ephemeris data proactively the same way Starlink already does, but to also adopt the high standards of space safety that SpaceX and Starlink use every day. - Michael Nicolls, Senior Vice President of Starlink Engineering and President of @SpaceXAI at @SpaceX #IAC2026 @IAC2026Antalya @Starlink

What an extraordinary week for SpaceX! We launched our quiver of space vehicles: Starship, Dragon, Falcon 9, and Falcon Heavy. We delivered operational next-gen V3 Starlink satellites to orbit for the first time, a plethora of customer payloads, and critical national security payloads that will defend our country. Most importantly, side by side with the incomparable @NASA, we safely flew Crew-13 to the International Space Station. This week is a powerful reminder of what rocket reusability unlocks and what the SpaceX team can accomplish when we stay relentlessly focused and consistently execute at the highest level. Congrats to the entire @SpaceX team and our customers for making the future something to be excited about every single day.

Concur on this. I personally spend a significant amount of my time focused on public and personnel safety and that fraction has increased over my time at SpaceX. Not only can our goals not be met without it, it’s just the right thing to do.

Today was the day! I’ve been living full time in South Texas for almost 6 years on what I originally thought was going to be an 18 month rotation working towards what we got today, a Starship that delivers payload to orbit. I’ve worked on a reasonable number of rocket programs and there is something special about getting to orbit (and breaking free of the tyranny of Earth’s gravity). I don’t feel like there’s any one team to recognize for this because many people worked for months and years to get to an operational Starship today. We have lots more excitement on the way with ship and booster catch to get right, but this feels like a big step and I’m excited that it went so well today. It’s icing on the cake that this is 18 years to the day of making orbit on Falcon 1. I’ve been thinking back to that day this evening. It’s a different feeling than that because we had the whole company riding on one launch back then, but Starship feels like the beginning of a new chapter in what it can unlock that brings a similar amount of hope and excitement for the future. Ad Astra! Thank you to all the SpaceXers and happy Orbit Day!

Starship achieved orbit on its first attempt and successfully delivered Starlink V3 satellites to space for the first time → spacex.com/launches/starship…

I am!

It’s hard to convey just how much was riding on Flight 4. I was responsible for the Falcon 1 second stage and Kestrel, and after the first three flights the second stage hadn’t had a chance to prove itself. It simply had to work or it was all over. Eighteen years to the day later, Starship reaches orbit and deploys the first operational v3 Starlinks. Very serendipitous indeed. 😊

I feel honored and humbled to have been recognized last night along with @edwards345 @larsblackmore @y_kuwata and Ed Velasquez at the inaugural Neil Armstrong awards. Thank you very much to Purdue and the Armstrong family as well as the nominating committee. It was many many more at SpaceX who deserve to be recognized for this accomplishment and it is a privilege to work with them every day and to have worked with those who were a part of this achievement.

Starship is getting ready to take its next step and start delivering payload to orbit. I’m quite excited for the next few missions we have coming up. The rest of this year should be action packed!

As a Louisiana native (I was born and raised in and around Baton Rouge), I’m excited to share this post. Building off of what we have learned about Starship here in Starbase, Texas and about cadence at both the Cape and Vandenberg, this will be the first launch site ever purpose built to truly achieve the rate required for a spacefaring civilization.

S41 on its victorious return to the factory following a successful static fire campaign. B21 is on deck this week. I’m very excited about flight 14 and moving Starship into some exciting operational missions.

People this has been an epic battle to get this ship back to port. Huge congratulations to the recovery team and the folks who have been helping them in Australia. So incredible!

This one is awesome, high speed video of Raptors at work.

High-speed video of 33 Raptor engines powering the Super Heavy booster on Flight 13

Excited for the first deployment of @Starlink V3 sats - we’ve successfully communicated with all sats using RF and laser links and been able to download key telemetry.

To quote Arthur C Clarke. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. I think that we at SpaceX all strive to be mistaken for magicians.

BOATSHIP! I’m now only referring to Starship 40 as BoatShip 40.

I went a bit quiet there as we we had a flurry of activity over the past week and weekend but the outcome was worth the effort. Megabay killed it last weekend, thank you folks for being awesome. Great flight 13 for both Booster 20 and Starship 40, which finished its mission floating intact in the Indian Ocean (a first as we’ve previously lost the nose on slapdown after water landings). Really critical data collected this mission on a demonstration deorbit burn for Raptor, and a first flight for the next generation Starlink satellites. It feels like we are ready to kick into gear on delivering payload to orbit, which I am very excited for. Development vehicles are fun but at the end of the day, we are here to put things into space and I am psyched about this rocket’s game changing capabilities.