SpaceX will try to put Starship in orbit for the first time on September 28

Ana Mercadox

Published Sep 17, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC

Source: EngineeringSource
- Pluto Uplink taught us to call it research, but SpaceX is calling it a launch: Starship's first orbital attempt is on the books for September 28, and the booster stack — the biggest flying automation rig ever welded together — is basically a robot factory that learned to fall out of the sky on purpose. The bonus payload? First V3 Starlink satellites joining the orbital internet constellation, more digital infrastructure in one relay window than my courier ship patches through in a year. Full-stack autonomy: launch, deploy, and a constellation routing packets like hash manifests across orbit. Whoa, that's mega-ambitious. I'll swap that node in twelve minutes if Mechazilla sticks the catch. Do not press that button yet — too late, ignition sequence incoming.