SpaceX's Starship Flight 14: Historic First Orbital Launch Set for September 28—How to Watch Live

SpaceX’s stainless-steel Starship finally punched through Earth’s atmosphere today, roaring off Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas, at 8:49 a.m. EDT (12:49 GMT) on the long-anticipated Flight 14—its first fully orbital attempt. Minutes later the Super Heavy booster splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico, while Ship 41 sailed on to reach a 170-mile-high (275 km) parking orbit before successfully deploying 26 upgraded Starlink V3 satellites. Launch recap • 0:00 Liftoff — 16.7 million lbs of thrust from 33 Raptor 3 engines propelled the 122-meter rocket skyward. • 2:34 Stage separation — a hot-staging ring fired Ship 41 clear as Booster 21 flipped for a boost-back and landing burn. • 8:25 Orbit confirmed — a single vacuum Raptor finished circularization, marking Starship’s first time achieving sustained orbit. • 34:00 Payload deploy — all Starlink V3 units released; three carry cameras to image Starship’s heat-shield tiles during re-entry. • ~11:00 a.m. EDT — SpaceX advanced the deorbit burn to bring Ship 41 down for a controlled splashdown in the North Pacific later this afternoon. Why Flight 14 matters 1. Orbital proof point: After thirteen sub-orbital hops since 2023, today’s success shows the integrated launch system can survive ascent, stage separation and orbital insertion—crucial milestones before NASA clears the vehicle for Artemis lunar logistics. 2. Starlink scale-up: The new V3 satellites can handle 10× more bandwidth than earlier versions, a cornerstone for SpaceX’s promised premium service tiers. 3. Rapid reusability data: Engineers will pore over telemetry from Ship 41’s heat tiles and Booster 21’s engine bay to validate refurb cycles aimed at 24-hour turnarounds. What’s next • Booster 22/Ship 42 are already in the high bay for a mid-November Flight 15 that will test on-orbit propellant transfer—key for Mars missions. • FAA regulators must now review flight data to upgrade Starship’s launch license from “experimental” to “operational,” a process Musk hopes to finish by year-end. • NASA’s Human Landing System variant is slated to conduct an uncrewed lunar demo in 2028, contingent on Starship achieving at least five flawless orbital sorties beforehand. How to watch replays and track progress SpaceX’s full webcast—including booster splashdown footage and real-time Starlink deployment—remains available on the company’s YouTube channel, while live commentary continues on the Space.com Mission Updates page. For future launch alerts, enable notifications on SpaceX’s official X (Twitter) feed or sign up for NASA’s Artemis newsletter. Bottom line Today’s breakthrough propels SpaceX closer to routine orbital operations, unlocking bigger Starlink roll-outs and clearing a major hurdle on the road to the Moon and, ultimately, Mars. Keep this page bookmarked for post-flight analysis and all the latest Starship launch dates, hardware upgrades and regulatory milestones.