SpaceX launched Starship for the 14th time this morning and the mission was a partial success but not a complete success thanks to one engine which went out on the ship about 30 seconds before it was supposed to shut down. That led to a prolonged moment of indecision where Space X initially said it would not complete the mission to send the ship into orbit. However, even as that decision was being announced, the ground crew reconsidered and decided that the ship could continue the mission.
At 7:48 a.m. CT, Starship's Super Heavy booster ignited its 33 rocket engines to send the spacecraft on its 14th flight. Two-and-a-half minutes after launch, Starship separated from the booster and continued into space. One of the six engines on Starship failed during ascent, prompting SpaceX to decide whether to continue to orbit. About 22 minutes into the flight, the team decided it was safe to do so.
Super Heavy is designed to be reusable by returning to its launch site, where it is caught by the launch tower. This booster, however, simulated a landing offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX is testing upgrades to the booster's software and hardware during this flight.
The booster appeared to lose two out of 33 engines but that was only near the end of the boost phase just before stage separation. It was still able to return home and do a simulated water landing. From what I've seen it was not a soft landing. It hit the water a bit hard and exploded.
The drama really began as the ship climbed to the same suborbital height it had many times before. One of the six engines went out and that led to the long moments on the ground until SpaceX finally decided it was safe to continue the mission. There was cheering from those viewing the launch when that call was made.
A single engine on the ship was relit in order to push the ship into orbit and after a brief burn it did achieve orbit for the first time. This is a big milestone for this program. Starship has never reached orbit before. All previous test flights have been suborbital.
Starship performs its orbital insertion burn and enters orbit of Earth for the first time pic.twitter.com/LodrSTnEnl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
The good news for SpaceX is that because the ship entered orbit they were able to deploy working Starlink satellites. Starship did this previously on test flight 13 but those satellites were not launched high enough to remain in orbit. They did connect to the other satellites in the network but soon after their orbits decayed and they burned up in the atmosphere. The satellites launched today are expected to continue working for a long time.
During its flight, SpaceX deployed 26 Starlink V3 next-gen satellites into its constellation of thousands of internet satellites that provide broadband access worldwide. SpaceX regularly launches Starlink satellites from Florida and California using its Falcon 9 rocket, but announced the final mission from Florida last month with plans to use Starship from Florida's Space Coast in the future.
Starship has begun deploying its payload of 26 @Starlink V3 satellites. This deployment sequence will take ~30 minutes pic.twitter.com/ycIdAx5Lbe
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
After that, the ground team decided to cut the mission a bit short. Instead of a 10-hour orbital flight the mission was cut to about 3-hours. It made two orbits of the earth instead of six. The landing itself looked pretty good and was apparently on target.
Splashdown confirmed. Congratulations to the entire SpaceX team on the first orbital flight of Starship! pic.twitter.com/urjmiwnvNl
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 28, 2026
So, overall, it was a partially successful mission. The ship did make it to orbit and did deploy working satellites for the first time. Not all the bugs have been worked out but they are still making progress.
Here's the video of the full launch.
Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → https://t.co/uQKQvgaTmJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2026
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