SpaceX Starship targets orbital debut with Starlink payload Monday
The most powerful rocket ever built faces its highest-stakes test yet as it aims to reach orbit and deploy next-generation satellites.
KEY POINTS
- Starship aims for first orbital flight Monday with Starlink satellite deployment
- Launch window opens 8:15 a.m. Miami time from South Texas site
- 13 test flights since 2023; nearly half ended in explosions
- NASA contract for crewed Moon landings; Musk targets Mars city
- Operational Starship would enable orbital data centers and upgraded Starlink
SpaceX is preparing to launch its Starship vehicle on Monday in the first attempt to reach orbit and deploy a batch of next-generation Starlink internet satellites. Liftoff is scheduled for an 8:15 a.m. Miami-time window at the company's South Texas site near Boca Chica.
Since 2023, 13 Starship prototypes have flown from the facility and nearly half of those flights ended in unplanned explosions. A successful orbital flight would mark the end of the test phase and the start of full operational service.
“Starship soon could leave behind its test-flight phase and enter full operation.”
The rocket holds a multibillion-dollar NASA contract to land astronauts on the Moon for the first time since Apollo, part of a renewed space race with China. Elon Musk also envisions using Starship to eventually build a self-sustaining city on Mars.
Future Starship missions are expected to carry upgraded Starlink satellites to expand global internet capacity and orbital data centers designed to power energy-intensive AI models.
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