r/spacex • u/rSpaceXHosting Host Team • Sep 14 '26
r/SpaceX Flight 14 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!
Welcome to the Starship Starlink 31-1 ( Flight 14) Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!
| Scheduled for (UTC) | Sep 28 2026, 12:48:59 |
|---|---|
| Scheduled for (local) | Sep 28 2026, 07:48:59 AM (CDT) |
| Launch Window (UTC) | Sep 28 2026, 12:15:00 - Sep 28 2026, 13:30:00 |
| Weather Probability | Unknown |
| Launch site | OLPad 2, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA. |
| Booster | Booster 21-1 |
| Ship | S41 |
| Booster landing | The Super Heavy Booster 21 has performed a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. |
| Ship landing | Ship 41 has performed a soft splashdown in the Pacific Ocean after deploying its payload. |
| Trajectory (Flight Club) | 2D,3D |
Spacecraft Onboard
| Spacecraft | Starship V3 |
|---|---|
| Serial Number | S41 |
| Destination | Low Earth Orbit |
| Flights | 1 |
| Owner | SpaceX |
| Landing | Ship 41 has performed a soft splashdown in the Pacific Ocean after deploying its payload. |
| Capabilities | More than 100 tons to Earth orbit |
Details
Third-generation second stage of the two-stage Starship super heavy-lift launch vehicle.
History
The third-generation Starship upper stage will be introduced on flight 12.
Watch the launch live
| Stream | Link |
|---|---|
| Unofficial Re-stream | The Space Devs |
| Official Webcast | SpaceX |
| Unofficial Webcast | Spaceflight Now |
| Unofficial Webcast | NASASpaceflight |
| Unofficial Webcast | Everyday Astronaut |
Stats
☑️ 3rd Starship V3 launch
☑️ 733rd SpaceX launch all time
☑️ 113th SpaceX launch this year
☑️ 3rd launch from OLPad 2 this year
☑️ 65 days, 13:57:59 turnaround for this pad
☑️ N/A hours since last launch of booster Booster 21
Stats include F1, F9 , FH and Starship
Timeline
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| -0:50:00 | GO for Prop Load |
| -0:36:33 | Stage 1 LOX Load |
| -0:35:00 | Stage 1 LNG Load |
| -0:34:13 | Stage 2 LOX Load |
| -0:34:11 | Stage 2 LNG Load |
| -0:21:40 | Engine Chill |
| -0:02:50 | Stage 1 Propellant Load Complete |
| -0:02:10 | Stage 2 Propellant Load Complete |
| -0:00:30 | GO for Launch |
| -0:00:17 | Flame Deflector Activation |
| -0:00:03 | Ignition |
| 0:00:00 | Excitement Guaranteed |
| 0:00:00 | Liftoff |
| 0:00:58 | Max-Q |
| 0:02:20 | MECO |
| 0:02:22 | Stage 2 Separation |
| 0:02:27 | Booster Boostback Burn Startup |
| 0:03:07 | Booster Boostback Burn Shutdown |
| 0:06:35 | Stage 1 Landing Burn |
| 0:07:01 | Stage 1 Landing |
| 0:08:11 | SECO-1 |
| 0:25:28 | Orbital Insertion Burn Start |
| 0:25:47 | Orbital Insertion Burn End |
| 0:34:18 | Payload Deployment Sequence Start |
| 1:04:50 | Payload Deployment Sequence End |
| 8:52:18 | Deorbit Burn Start |
| 8:52:29 | Deorbit Burn End |
| 9:28:52 | Atmospheric Entry |
| 9:47:30 | Starship Transonic |
| 9:48:07 | Starship Subsonic |
| 9:50:11 | Starship Landing Burn |
| 9:50:13 | Landing Flip |
| 9:50:21 | Starship Landing Burn Shutdown |
| 9:50:28 | Starship Landing Burn Shutdown |
| 9:50:30 | Starship Landing |
Updates
| Time (UTC) | Update |
|---|---|
| 28 Sep 16:06 | Mission completed with Ship 41 soft splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. |
| 28 Sep 14:08 | All Starlink satellites deployed and in contact with ground stations. |
| 28 Sep 12:49 | Liftoff. |
| 28 Sep 12:03 | Unofficial Re-stream by SPACE AFFAIRS has started |
| 28 Sep 11:52 | Now targeting Sep 28 at 12:48 UTC |
| 28 Sep 10:43 | Now targeting Sep 28 at 12:46 UTC |
| 26 Sep 21:07 | FAA launch license acquired. |
| 17 Sep 17:22 | Now targeting Sep 28 at 13:15 UTC due to still pending regulatory approval |
| 16 Sep 20:34 | Renamed primary payload. |
| 15 Sep 17:36 | GO for launch. |
| 14 Sep 14:11 | NET September 22, TBC. |
| 11 Sep 20:47 | Added tentative launch window. |
| 10 Sep 17:08 | NET September 18. |
| 08 Sep 16:07 | NET September 15, TBC. |
| 14 Aug 19:14 | NET early September. |
| 30 Jul 14:54 | Added launch. |
Resources
Partnership with The Space Devs
Information on this thread is provided by and updated automatically using the Launch Library 2 API by The Space Devs.
Community content 🌐
| Link | Source |
|---|---|
| Flight Club | u/TheVehicleDestroyer |
| Discord SpaceX lobby | u/SwGustav |
| SpaceX Now | u/bradleyjh |
| SpaceX Patch List |
Participate in the discussion!
🥳 Launch threads are party threads, we relax the rules here. We remove low effort comments in other threads!
🔄 Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!
💬 Please leave a comment if you discover any mistakes, or have any information.
✉️ Please send links in a private message.
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u/Straumli_Blight 28d ago edited 28d ago
MELISSA C (which observed Ship 41's splashdown) is arriving back at Honolulu shortly. It was travelling at 9 knots, so unlikely to be towing debris.
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u/lyndalovon 27d ago
Do you know if it’s conducting the salvage operation? How do you know that? People in Hawaii wanna know!!!
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u/SubstantialWall 27d ago
You're not gonna get any ships, it blew up and what's left either sank or they sank it. At best they come home with bags of tiles
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u/Slinger28 28d ago
What is best guess for the reason the engines keep going out? Is there too much rattling that things are breaking? Do they know the reason?
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u/Frostis24 27d ago
I thinks it's the same reason as the early days of sn8 belly flopping, it's the plumbing not delivering fuel properly, since all this time they have been talking about ice.
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u/Strong_Researcher230 28d ago
It seems that a lot of time it's been ice that is clogging up the engines, but other than that they haven't been as forthcoming of what all the issues have been.
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u/SubstantialWall 28d ago
Seems unlikely to be the issue on ascent, the issue there used to be the ice floated to the surface of the LOX line and trouble happened when the level neared the engines, so on ascent and without much slosh that should be fine, same for the ship
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u/Straumli_Blight 29d ago edited 28d ago
https://x.com/interstellargw/status/2104598141240832048
Starship Flight 14 Solar Transit through a 12K Cinema Camera.
https://x.com/interstellargw/status/2104941771826540552
SpaceX’s Starship V3 launching to orbit with Starlink satellites from Pad-2
https://x.com/interstellargw/status/2104904031701258526
33 Raptor engines igniting Starship’s maiden voyage to orbit (seen in slow-motion)
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u/Thisisnotmyusrname 29d ago edited 28d ago
Edit: I love that there’s a good discussion below about this. And that people have downvoted my genuine question (perhaps thinking I was insinuating something extraterrestrial, which I wasn’t at all).
Original comment: Does anyone know what the "object" was that appeared around t+ 7:20 and moved out of view to the left? In the screenshot, its just above the "Super Heavy Landing" timeline. It got slightly better in view as it went on to the left, at one point being in the same frame as the Moon.
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u/Anthony_Ramirez 25d ago
Does anyone know what the "object" was that appeared around t+ 7:20 and moved out of view to the left?
I think it would be the ISS.
Does anyone know how to find out where it was during the launch?1
u/Thisisnotmyusrname 24d ago
Deff not the iss. Thats another 200km above this altitude.
It’s been discussed that it was probably the hot staging separation plume
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u/andyfrance 27d ago
It puzzled me too but as its position held steady relative to the ship while the ship was accelerating to orbit it has to be the ship. My guess is that it's a camera artifact picking up some reflection from the ship.
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u/TheSangson 29d ago
The object is Saturn. I just looked for the place and time in Stellarium and, yep, this livestream was in a picture quality that we saw flippen Saturn, clearly discernible as a thing with rings.
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
Probably part of the launch plume, it’s hard to tell but it may be the plume from hot staging
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u/Thisisnotmyusrname 28d ago
I think that’s it but related to hot staging since it is so high up?
Edit. Whoops. Just reread your comment and you said that after launch plume 🤣
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u/inio 29d ago
So did this flight set a record for single-launch mass to orbit (counting the ship)?
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u/Ferrum-56 29d ago
It is probably slightly above Saturn V / Skylab at ~140-150t, but it depends on the dry weight which I don't think is currently known. I guess it might break the record since SS has been overweight for much of its career, but probably better to wait for next flight so it's clear.
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u/MrTagnan 29d ago
The propellant remaining in the tanks prior to landing is around ~60t according to a monitor seen on one of the SpaceX documentaries. Starship’s dry mass is not less than 100t, and the payload was 45t, so when including fuel it’s at least ~200t. Dry mass is thought to be around 160t - so without the fuel total mass is ~200t and with it ~260t
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