The story

SpaceX announced it will attempt to put Starship into Earth's orbit for the first time on September 22, pending regulatory approval. The 14th test flight has a 75-minute launch window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT. The rocket will fly at an altitude of about 275 kilometers and complete six orbits during a nearly 10-hour mission before splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. This will be the first Starship test to reach orbit after 13 prior flights that followed suborbital paths.

The mission will deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites, making it the first Starship launch to generate revenue. Each V3 satellite adds 1 terabits per second of capacity to the Starlink constellation, about 10 times the capacity of a single Falcon 9 launch of smaller satellites, according to SpaceX. SpaceX Chief Financial Officer Bret Johnsen called the revenue generation a huge milestone. The company's Super Heavy booster will attempt a controlled landing in the Gulf of Mexico but will not attempt a catch at the launch tower.

Starship is core to the rest of SpaceX's business, according to CFO Johnsen. SpaceX has invested at least $15 billion in the vehicle and plans to spend at least another $100 billion developing a dedicated spaceport in Louisiana. The company aims to eventually retire its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets in favor of Starship once it is flying reliably several times per week. Separately, SpaceX signed its first customer for its new Starfall payload return program, Luxembourg-based Space Cargo, which plans to fly a mission in 2028 on Starship's first commercial flight.