Key Takeaways:
- SpaceX's eleventh integrated flight test of Starship is scheduled for October 13, originating from Starbase, Texas, building upon prior flight successes.
- New objectives for the Starship upper stage include deliberately removing heat shield tiles for stress assessment, deploying eight Starlink simulators, performing a Raptor engine relight, and executing a dynamic banking maneuver during atmospheric reentry.
- The Super Heavy booster will demonstrate a novel landing burn engine configuration, transitioning from thirteen to five, then three engines, culminating in a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
- These tests are fundamental for developing a fully reusable launch system, which is integral to NASA's Artemis program where Starship will function as the Human Landing System for lunar missions, necessitating in-orbit refueling.
Mission highlight: SpaceX Starship Test Flight 11
This week’s highlighted mission is the eleventh integrated flight test of SpaceX’s Starship. Liftoff from Starbase in Texas is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 13, with the launch window opening at 7:15 p.m. EDT. A livestream will begin here about 30 minutes before liftoff.
The upcoming flight will build on the successful demonstrations from Starship’s tenth flight. New objectives include stress-testing the upper stage’s heat shield by intentionally removing some tiles. The Super Heavy booster, which previously flew on Flight 8, will demonstrate a new landing burn engine configuration — igniting 13 engines, transitioning to five, and then to three for a final hover — before splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico. The Starship upper stage will attempt multiple in-space objectives, including the deployment of eight Starlink simulators and a single Raptor engine relight before its own splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Its reentry profile will also include a “dynamic banking maneuver,” mimicking the path that the ship will fly in the future when it returns to Texas, avoiding populated areas.
RELATED: SpaceX Starship Flight 10 viewed as roaring success
These tests are important steps toward creating a fully reusable launch system, which is foundational to NASA’s Artemis program. For these missions, Starship will serve as the Human Landing System (HLS) that will carry astronauts to the lunar surface. The astronauts will launch on NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which will dock with the waiting Starship lander in lunar orbit. Before traveling to the Moon, the Starship HLS will first need to be refueled in Earth orbit by another Starship acting as a fuel depot, which itself will be stocked by multiple tanker Starships.
RELATED: How Artemis will land humans on the Moon
Other missions this week
Monday, Oct. 13: SpaceX follows up its Starship test flight with a Falcon 9 scheduled to launch the Project Kuiper (KF-03) mission from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 8:08 p.m. EDT.
Tuesday, Oct. 14: Rocket Lab is scheduled to launch its Owl New World mission on an Electron rocket from Māhia Peninsula, New Zealand at 12:30 p.m. local time. Later, a SpaceX Falcon 9 will launch the Tranche 1 Transport Layer C mission for the Space Development Agency from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:12 p.m. EDT.
Wednesday, Oct. 15: A Chinese Long March 8A rocket is slated to launch an unknown payload from the Wenchang Space Launch Site at 9:30 p.m. EDT.
Thursday, Oct. 16: SpaceX returns to the East Coast to launch the Starlink Group 10-52 mission from Cape Canaveral at 2:42 a.m. EDT.
Friday, Oct. 17: A Falcon 9 will launch Starlink Group 11-19 from Vandenberg at 11:09 p.m. EDT.
Sunday, Oct. 19: The week closes out with another SpaceX launch, sending the Starlink Group 10-17 mission to orbit from Cape Canaveral at 10:52 a.m. EDT.
Last week’s recap
The week of Oct. 6–12 saw four launches. The week was headlined by Blue Origin’s NS-36 mission on Wednesday, Oct. 8, which carried six passengers on a suborbital flight from West Texas. SpaceX launched two Starlink missions: Group 10-59 from Florida on Tuesday, Oct. 7, and Group 11-17 from California later that same day. On Friday, Oct. 10, Orienspace – a Chinese launch startup — conducted the second-ever launch of its Gravity 1 rocket from a platform in the Yellow Sea, successfully deploying three satellites into a near-polar orbit.
Looking ahead
Next week, look for a pair of SpaceX Starlink missions scheduled for Monday, Oct. 20, and Wednesday, Oct. 22. Also on the manifest is the launch of Japan’s HTV-X 1 cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station aboard an H3 rocket, scheduled for Monday, Oct. 20, from Tanegashima Space Center.
