SpaceX's Starship Flight 14 Reaches Space After Upper-Stage Engine Cut; Orbit Unconfirmed

SpaceX launched its Starship rocket from Texas on Monday in the company’s first attempt to send the fully integrated Starship-Super Heavy system into sustained Earth orbit, clearing early flight milestones but leaving the ultimate outcome unclear after an upper-stage engine shut down early during ascent.

The 14th integrated flight test lifted off at 12:49 UTC from the orbital pad at Starbase, the company’s launch site at Boca Chica in Cameron County, Texas. Unlike the previous 13 integrated Starship flights, which flew on suborbital trajectories, Flight 14 was specifically intended as an orbital attempt. Live coverage reported hot-stage separation — when the upper stage ignites before fully separating from the booster — about 2 minutes 34 seconds after liftoff. Coverage also indicated the Super Heavy booster carried out its planned boostback and landing burn over the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a controlled splashdown.

The upper stage, Ship 41, reached space, but Space.com’s live coverage reported that one of its Raptor 3 engines shut down early during the initial burn. The vehicle reportedly compensated and completed that burn, but as of roughly 12:56 to 13:00 UTC, controllers were still assessing whether to proceed with the orbital insertion burn. Public coverage at that point described orbit as unconfirmed, and SpaceX had not publicly confirmed that Starship had reached sustained orbit.

Flight 14 was also meant to be the first Starship mission to deploy operational Starlink Version 3 satellites, linking the test directly to SpaceX’s satellite internet business. The vehicle was carrying 26 Starlink V3 satellites, but deployment depended on reaching orbit. Under the nominal flight plan, satellite deployment would have begun about 34 minutes after liftoff. The planned mission profile called for about six Earth orbits before a de-orbit burn and Pacific splashdown for the upper stage roughly nine to 10 hours later, while the booster was to splash down in the Gulf.

The flight marks a major step in the company’s test campaign because it moves beyond repeated suborbital demonstrations toward the first full orbital mission profile. That matters not only for SpaceX’s commercial plans, including launching larger Starlink satellites, but also for NASA’s Artemis program, which relies on a Starship-derived Human Landing System for future lunar missions. The Federal Aviation Administration, which licenses commercial launches and reentries, cleared the mission before liftoff. “On Sept. 26, the FAA issued license authorization for the SpaceX Starship – Super Heavy Flight 14 launch and reentry operations,” the agency said, according to Aviation Week.