SpaceX is gearing up for a major milestone: the first-ever orbital flight of its Starship rocket, with liftoff scheduled for September 22 at 7:15 a.m. local time from the company's Starbase facility in Texas. The flight marks the 14th overall test of the massive vehicle and represents a significant shift from all previous missions.
Until now, SpaceX has intentionally kept Starship on suborbital trajectories to limit risk to the public. Going orbital opens the door to the next stage of development — making the rocket fully and rapidly reusable, which is central to the company's long-term ambitions for Moon and Mars travel.
This test flight will also carry a practical payload: 26 Starlink satellites, making it a dual-purpose mission. SpaceX describes the orbital attempt as the start of an "exciting new phase" for Starship, its largest and most powerful rocket to date.
The road to this point has been bumpy. Several earlier Starship test flights ended in what Elon Musk famously calls "rapid unscheduled disassembly" — explosive failures mid-flight. The most recent test, conducted in July, was largely considered a success, and came after SpaceX completed what was reported as the largest initial public offering in history. Still, key milestones remain ahead, including in-orbit refueling, before Starship can be cleared for commercial operations.
This story was first reported by Hurriyet Daily News.
