On the surface, the flight plan for SpaceX's next Starship mission appears similar to its predecessor. The rocket's Super Heavy booster is set to splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, just offshore from SpaceX's launch site in South Texas. Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage will follow a suborbital trajectory, reentering the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean for a water landing northwest of Australia. This flight aims to demonstrate the rocket's satellite deployer and reignite one of the Raptor engines in space, adjusting the vehicle's reentry path. Such tests are crucial for paving the way for future Starship missions into low-Earth orbit. Notably, all previous Starship ascents have intentionally concluded before achieving orbital velocity.
SpaceX experienced a significant rebound during the last Starship test flight on August 26, overcoming four consecutive failures—three in flight and one on the ground. The upcoming Starship launch, scheduled for no earlier than October 13, aims to replicate the successes of the previous mission. This will mark the 11th full-scale test flight of Starship, and the fifth of this year. Importantly, it will be the last Starship test flight until at least early 2026, when SpaceX introduces the larger, upgraded Starship Version 3.
Despite the similarities, there are several changes in SpaceX's flight plan for the upcoming Starship mission, particularly during the vehicle's reentry. The heat shield will be exposed to temperatures soaring up to 2,600° Fahrenheit (1,430° Celsius). As part of the test, SpaceX has removed some of the thousands of ceramic thermal protection tiles to intentionally stress-test vulnerable areas of the vehicle. Some tiles are missing from regions where they are directly bonded to the Starship's stainless steel structure, lacking a backup ablative layer. In a recent update, SpaceX did not mention any experimental metallic tiles for this flight, as previous installations did not perform as expected, resulting in visible oxidation during landing.
SpaceX engineers are focused on refining the heat shield's design to ensure it can withstand damage during reentry and landing. Any damage to the heat shield could necessitate refurbishment, jeopardizing SpaceX's goal of achieving a fully reusable Starship. Looking ahead, SpaceX plans to attempt a recovery of a Starship vehicle at its launch site at Starbase, Texas sometime next year, where it will utilize its engines to slow down and settle into the grappling arms of the launch pad's servicing tower. A new test objective for next month’s Starship flight includes a dynamic banking maneuver during the final trajectory phase, mimicking future flight paths for returning to Starbase, allowing engineers to test the vehicle's subsonic guidance algorithms.
While SpaceX is still progressing towards recovering and reusing Starship's upper stage, the company is making strides in reusing the massive Super Heavy booster. The upcoming Flight 11 will be the second occasion that SpaceX reuses a Super Heavy booster from a previous mission. This particular booster, designated Booster 15, successfully launched in March and was captured by the launch tower upon its return from the edge of space. SpaceX noted that 24 of the 33 methane-fueled Raptor engines on the booster for next month's flight are flight-proven.
Similar to the last Starship flight, the Super Heavy booster will guide itself to a splashdown off the coast of South Texas rather than returning to Starbase. The primary objective for this flight test is to showcase a unique landing burn engine configuration planned for the next-generation Super Heavy. This new sequence will initially engage 13 of the rocket's 33 engines, then switch to five engines, and finally utilize just three center engines for the concluding burn phase. This adjustment provides additional redundancy for unexpected engine shutdowns, ensuring a safer landing process as SpaceX gathers data on the vehicle's dynamics during the transition between different engine phases.
Following Flight 11, SpaceX will shift its focus towards the next-generation Starship V3 design. This upgraded configuration will have the capability to reach orbit, allowing SpaceX to deploy a new fleet of larger, more powerful Starlink Internet satellites. Additionally, Starship V3 will serve as the platform for testing orbital refueling, a groundbreaking procedure never attempted between two spacecraft utilizing cryogenic propellants. This refueling capability is essential for providing Starship with the energy required to travel beyond Earth's orbit to destinations such as the Moon and Mars, fulfilling the ambitious goals set by NASA and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
The inaugural flight of Starship V3 is anticipated to occur in early 2026, utilizing a newly outfitted launch pad situated close to the original launch pad at Starbase. SpaceX's Vice President of Build and Flight Reliability, Bill Gerstenmaier, indicated that the company may attempt one more suborbital flight with Starship V3 before potentially launching Flight 13, which could reach low-Earth orbit sometime later next year.
