SpaceX launches Starship on its most ambitious test flight yet

SpaceX’s giant Starship rocket has returned to the launch pad in Boca Chica, primed and ready for its final flight test of the year. Flight 11, scheduled for liftoff Monday evening at the earliest, will also be the final test flight of this second version of the spacecraft, if all goes as planned.

The launch window will open at 7:15 PM ET on Monday, October 13, according to SpaceX. The live broadcast of the event will begin approximately 30 minutes before takeoff, which you can watch SpaceX.com Or the company account on X. And you can also listen through any of the third-party webcasts below.

A transitional moment for SpaceX

Last week, SpaceX subscriber Enhanced images of the Starship Super Heavy vehicle installed on the launch pad at Starbase, the company’s launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. The rocket’s upper stage, called Starship or “Ship” for short, is placed on top of the booster before its flight.

The spacecraft is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. In total, it is about 400 feet (122 meters) high. But SpaceX is moving toward expansion: The next iteration of Starship — Version 3 — will be as well Larger and capable of carrying 100 tons (363 metric tons) into orbitAccording to CEO Elon Musk. Its first launch is expected sometime in early 2026.

But before SpaceX can roll out Version 3, the company needs to get this final test of Version 2 going smoothly. It’s the final test, Flight 10, which took off from the star base in August, It went off without a hitch. But this launch came after A A series of explosive failures That put the spacecraft off track.

In this test, the spacecraft will follow a flight plan very similar to the last launch, Only with some modifications To further stress test the rocket’s heat shield and demonstrate maneuvers designed to mimic how its upper stages would behave upon returning to its launch site — Starhsip is, after all, supposed to be fully reusable.

Similar but different flight plan

On the 11th test flight, Starship’s Super Heavy Booster rocket is supposed to land in the Gulf of Mexico while its upper stage advances along a suborbital arc, then reenter the atmosphere to land on water in the Indian Ocean, according to SpaceX.

The test will attempt several objectives in space, including deploying eight mock Starlink satellites and restarting one of the Raptor’s engines. SpaceX once again removed several ceramic tiles from the heat shield to stress test the rocket’s thermal protection system.

However, unlike Flight 10, this time the spacecraft will perform a “dynamic banking maneuver” during the final phase of the rocket’s re-entry, designed to mimic the path it will take on future flights back to Starbase.

The booster will also feature a “unique descent burner engine configuration planned for use in the next generation Super Heavy,” according to SpaceX. The booster will ignite 13 of the 33 engines to begin the burn, then switch to five engines to set its trajectory, then switch to three central engines for the final stage of the burn.

The booster chosen for this launch is flight-proven, having already flown on Flight 8 in March. Twenty-four of the Raptor’s booster engines also demonstrated their ability to fly. This will be the second time the Super Heavy booster has been reused, and is a critical test of SpaceX’s rapid reuse strategy.

It’s been a turbulent year for the spacecraft program. After a very shaky start to the rocket’s 2025 launch schedule, SpaceX is now under pressure to reach important development milestones before its next iteration. Monday’s launch is one you won’t want to miss.