Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starship rocket has completed its first orbit of Earth, despite losing one of its engines after the flight began. It is now beginning its journey back to Earth much earlier than...
Published the day Flight 14 flew, which graded success. Starship is the fully reusable rocket SpaceX builds and flies at Starbase: the Super Heavy booster plus the Starship upper stage, stacked about 400 feet tall.
The first planned orbital flight of a Starship-Super Heavy rocket aims to send 26 Starlink Version 3 into low Earth orbit. Liftoff from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas, is scheduled during a 75-minute...
Super Heavy is the first stage, the part that does the initial lift and then either splashes down offshore or flies back to be caught by the tower arms.
After more than a decade of development in many forms, SpaceX’s Starship is slated to...
Flight 14 flew September 28, 2026 and graded success: booster splashdown, ship splashdown. Starship is the fully reusable rocket SpaceX builds and flies at Starbase: the Super Heavy booster plus the Starship upper stage, stacked about 400 feet tall.
The FAA has cleared Starship Flight 14, setting up SpaceX's first orbital attempt on Monday.
Flight 14 flew September 28, 2026 and graded success: booster splashdown, ship splashdown. Starbase flights are gated by federal and city sign-off: the FAA licenses the launch, and the City of Starbase orders the Highway 4 and beach closures that go with it.
With Flight 14 being Starship’s first intended orbital mission, a near-term manifest is already pointing...
Flight 14 flew September 28, 2026 and graded success: booster splashdown, ship splashdown. Starship is the fully reusable rocket SpaceX builds and flies at Starbase: the Super Heavy booster plus the Starship upper stage, stacked about 400 feet tall.
The inclusion of the upper stage, tail number Ship 41, comes ahead of a probable fueling demonstration planned in the days leading up to a launch attempt. Starship Flight 14 is scheduled for no...
SpaceX numbers each airframe rather than each flight, so a headline about Ship 40 or Booster 21 is about one specific vehicle, not the mission number.
Starbase officials approved the massive annexation of its city limits expanding its boundaries past 8,000 acres.
Starbase is wedged between a state park and a national wildlife refuge, so SpaceX expanding its footprint there means land swaps and beach access fights, not just construction.
The first planned orbital Starship mission is scheduled for launch from Starbase in Texas as soon as Sept. 28, pending final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Super Heavy is the first stage, the part that does the initial lift and then either splashes down offshore or flies back to be caught by the tower arms.
SpaceX’s disk-shaped Starfall reentry capsule, first flown on Falcon 9 in June, now has two...
Surviving reentry is the hard part of reusing the upper stage: it comes back through plasma hot enough to strip the ceramic tiles that protect the hull.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), SpaceX pushed back the target date for its next launch by several days and is now eyeing Monday, Sept. 28, for its Starship 14 test flight. The flight is still...
The city was scheduled to consider SpaceX’s request to bring the property into Starbase less than three weeks after Brownsville gave up jurisdiction over the land.
Starbase is wedged between a state park and a national wildlife refuge, so SpaceX expanding its footprint there means land swaps and beach access fights, not just construction.
Flight 14 would be Starship’s first orbital mission and its first time carrying and deploying Starlink satellites.
Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet constellation. It is the payload on most Falcon 9 launches, which is why those flights come in such steady batches.
SpaceX is targeting Sept. 22 for Starship's first-ever orbital launch, a landmark flight that will deploy 26 Starlink satellites and last about 10 hours.
Starlink is SpaceX's satellite internet constellation. It is the payload on most Falcon 9 launches, which is why those flights come in such steady batches.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), SpaceX is eyeing Tuesday, Sept. 22, for Starship’s fourteenth flight from Starbase. The company said the flight is still pending regulatory approval, and that...
SpaceX has rolled Super Heavy Booster 22 out of Mega Bay 1 to Massey’s for...
Massey's is the test site a few miles inland from the launch pads, where SpaceX pressure-tests and static-fires hardware before it goes anywhere near a flight.
SpaceX decided to shift all Starlink missions flying on Falcon 9 rockets to the West Coast as it pushes towards the debut of its Starship-Super Heavy in Florida. Liftoff of the Starlink 15-24 mission...
Super Heavy is the first stage, the part that does the initial lift and then either splashes down offshore or flies back to be caught by the tower arms.
The last-minute deal followed a raucous six-hour meeting in which police removed several people, and SpaceX declined to give commissioners more time to review.
Starbase is wedged between a state park and a national wildlife refuge, so SpaceX expanding its footprint there means land swaps and beach access fights, not just construction.
SpaceX fired up all 33 engines of its Super Heavy booster to gear up for the next Starship test flight, which will mark the first time the vehicle goes orbital.
SpaceX has loaded Flight 13's Starship upper stage onto a ship in the Indian Ocean, more than a month after the vehicle splashed down. It is now headed home to Texas.
Flight 13 flew July 24, 2026 and graded partial: booster lost, ship splashdown. Starship test flights currently end with a controlled splashdown at sea rather than a landing, so recovery means fishing hardware or debris out of the water afterward.
SpaceX announced plans Aug. 25 to build a massive new spaceport for its Starship launch vehicle in Louisiana as the company starts to wind down Falcon 9 launches.
Falcon 9 is the workhorse: a partly reusable two-stage rocket that flies most weeks from Florida and California, and the vehicle Starship is eventually meant to replace.
SpaceX announced today that it would expand its launch capabilities into a new U.S. state: Louisiana. Today, SpaceX, in conjunction with the Louisiana Economic Development Office, said that it will...
The next flight of SpaceX’s Starship is now unlikely to involve an attempt to catch the vehicle’s upper stage back at the launch site as the launch slips into September.
SpaceX completed a single-engine test-firing of its next Starship spacecraft to prepare for its coming test flight, which will be the first to reach orbit.
SpaceX will likely try to make the first-ever catch of its Starship upper stage a few months from now, according to Elon Musk. He had earlier flagged late August as a potential date for the milestone.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced today that the company will likely attempt to catch the Starship upper stage with its launch tower arms “in a few months.” In a post on X, Musk wrote, “Looks like we...
The tower arms, nicknamed chopsticks, are what stack the rocket and what catch the booster on return, which is how SpaceX intends to reuse it without landing legs.
STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral), The Starbase Police Department is preparing for launch. Starbase began soliciting applications for two police sergeants and six officers in August. They will report...
STARBASE, Texas (ValleyCentral), The city of Starbase plans to approve a 46% property tax hike in September. Mayor Robert “Bobby” Peden and the City Commission discussed the tax hike during a...
After Starship's test launch and splashdown last month, SpaceX recovery teams have successfully tugged the vehicle through a turbulent stretch of the Indian Ocean and arrived at calmer waters off the...
Starship test flights currently end with a controlled splashdown at sea rather than a landing, so recovery means fishing hardware or debris out of the water afterward.
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), SpaceX announced Tuesday morning that Starship Flight 13 was successfully guided to a location off the coast of Christmas Island after efforts were made to recover...
Flight 13 flew July 24, 2026 and graded partial: booster lost, ship splashdown. Starship test flights currently end with a controlled splashdown at sea rather than a landing, so recovery means fishing hardware or debris out of the water afterward.
WARSAW, Poland, Bulgaria’s government has approved a draft memorandum of understanding with local company Starbase Europe to collaborate on the development of a new space and defense innovation hub
HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral), French sculpture group Atelier Missor has revealed the first look of its 50-foot bronze statue of Prometheus being built in Starbase, Texas. Atelier Missor, a...
SpaceX is still towing Starship's upper stage toward shore two weeks after its latest test flight, but the unprecedented effort is unlikely to succeed, according to Elon Musk.
Flight 13 flew July 24, 2026 and graded partial: booster lost, ship splashdown.