Starship Flight 14
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Starship V3 · Monday, September 28, 2026 · Liftoff 7:48 a.m. CT · ★ Landmark flight

Starship Flight 14

Starship reached orbit for the first time and deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites. After an engine shut down on the climb, the flight team brought it down early, about 3 hours after liftoff, on target north of Hawaii.

Result
Success
Super Heavy
Splashdown
Starship
Splashdown
Duration
~3 hr 8 min

Photo: SpaceX

Flight replay

Watch Starship Flight 14

Video: VideoFromSpace (Space.com), not SpaceX. Watch SpaceX's official webcast.

The flight

What Happened

Starship Flight 14 lifted off from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas, at 7:48:59 a.m. Central on September 28, 2026. That morning SpaceX moved the target time back from 7:15 a.m. The booster lost one of its 33 engines on the climb. After stage separation it relit 31 engines for the boostback burn, which SpaceX designed to burn off its remaining liquid oxygen as a test of booster limits. It relit 11 of 13 engines for the landing burn and splashed down in the Gulf. SpaceX then triggered its flight termination system on purpose, as a test of the safety hardware. The ship lost one of its three Raptor Vacuum engines on the climb. It burned its other five engines longer to make up the thrust. The flight team checked the ship, and then gave a go for orbit. A single Raptor relit for the orbit insertion burn, and Starship entered orbit for the first time. It then deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites, and SpaceX made contact with every one. The plan was about six orbits over nearly 10 hours, then a splashdown west of Chile. Because of the engine loss, the flight team cut the time in orbit short. Starship flew its first deorbit burn, came through entry, and relit three engines for the landing flip. It splashed down on target in the northern Pacific, north of Hawaii, about 3 hours and 8 minutes after liftoff. That zone was one of two that SpaceX cleared before launch. The ship then tipped onto its side.

Firsts

  • First Starship to reach orbit
  • First Starship to deploy satellites into orbit
  • First Starship deorbit burn

Flight path

STARBASEPACIFIC OCEANSPLASHDOWNSPLASHDOWN12345678910
The numbers match The Flight Plan below. Not to scale.

Two stages

Booster and Ship

Super Heavy boosterSplashdown
Splashed down in the Gulf as planned, though two engines did not relight on each burn
Starship upper stageSplashdown
Reached orbit, deployed all 26 Starlink V3 satellites and splashed down on target north of Hawaii

Objectives

  • Deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites into a stable low Earth orbit, a first for Starship
  • Fly about six orbits over nearly 10 hours
  • Splash down in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile
  • Fly the Super Heavy boostback burn and a landing burn at an offshore point in the Gulf

Anomalies

  • One of 33 booster engines shut down on the climb. 31 of 33 relit for the boostback burn, and 11 of 13 for the landing burn
  • One of the ship's three Raptor Vacuum engines shut down early on the climb
  • Flight cut to about 3 hours from a planned 10, with splashdown north of Hawaii, not west of Chile
  • The ship tipped onto its side after splashdown, and leftover propellant ignited

Minute by minute

The Flight Plan

SpaceX's plan, published before launch. The real flight can differ: What Happened above says how.

  1. T+00:00

    Liftoff

    Full stack

  2. T+00:58

    Max Q (moment of peak aerodynamic stress on the rocket)

    Full stack

  3. T+02:22

    Hot-staging (Starship Raptor ignition and stage separation)

    Full stack

  4. T+02:27

    Super Heavy boostback burn start

    Super Heavy

  5. T+06:36

    Super Heavy landing burn start

    Super Heavy

  6. T+08:11

    Starship engine cutoff

    Starship

  7. T+34:07

    Payload deploy start

    Starship

  8. T+9:28:56

    Starship entry

    Starship

  9. T+9:50:11

    Landing burn start

    Starship

  10. T+9:50:30

    An exciting landing!

    Starship

The full SpaceX timeline (35 steps)
  1. T−50:00SpaceX Flight Director conducts poll and verifies GO for propellant load
  2. T−36:33Booster LOX (liquid oxygen) load underway
  3. T−35:00Booster fuel (liquid methane) load underway
  4. T−34:13Ship LOX load underway
  5. T−34:11Ship fuel load underway
  6. T−21:40Raptor begins engine chill on booster and ship
  7. T−02:50Booster propellant load complete
  8. T−02:10Ship propellant load complete
  9. T−00:30SpaceX flight director verifies GO for launch
  10. T−00:17Flame diverter activation
  11. T−00:03Booster engine startup command
  12. T−00:00Excitement guaranteed
  13. T+00:00Liftoff
  14. T+00:58Max Q (moment of peak aerodynamic stress on the rocket)
  15. T+02:20Super Heavy MECO (most engines cut off)
  16. T+02:22Hot-staging (Starship Raptor ignition and stage separation)
  17. T+02:27Super Heavy boostback burn start
  18. T+03:07Super Heavy boostback burn shutdown
  19. T+06:36Super Heavy landing burn start
  20. T+07:01Super Heavy landing burn shutdown
  21. T+08:11Starship engine cutoff
  22. T+25:17Starship orbital insertion burn start
  23. T+25:36Starship orbital insertion burn shutdown
  24. T+34:07Payload deploy start
  25. T+1:04:39Payload deploy complete
  26. T+8:52:37Deorbit burn start
  27. T+8:52:48Deorbit burn shutdown
  28. T+9:28:56Starship entry
  29. T+9:47:29Starship is transonic
  30. T+9:48:07Starship is subsonic
  31. T+9:50:11Landing burn start
  32. T+9:50:13Landing flip
  33. T+9:50:21Landing burn 3 to 2 engines
  34. T+9:50:28Landing burn 2 to 1 engine
  35. T+9:50:30An exciting landing!

Planned timeline · Source: SpaceX

Sources

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