SpaceX Sets October 13 Target for 11th Starship Test Flight After Milestone Success

New Delhi, Sept 2025 : After the resounding success of its 10th test flight, SpaceX has announced that the 11th test flight of Starship is scheduled for October 13, marking another crucial step in the company’s quest to develop the world’s first fully reusable launch vehicle.

The Starship and Super Heavy booster will lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in South Texas, with the launch window opening at 6:15 p.m. CT (October 14, 4:45 a.m. IST).

In a post on social media platform X, SpaceX said: “Starship’s tenth flight test took a significant step forward in developing the world’s first fully reusable launch vehicle. Next up: Flight 11 of Starship is targeted to launch as early as Monday, October 13.”

Key Test Objectives

For the upcoming mission, the Super Heavy booster will be powered by 24 flight-proven Raptor engines. Its primary objective will be to demonstrate a new landing burn engine configuration, a critical system for future versions of the booster. Instead of returning to the launch site for a catch attempt, the booster will follow a trajectory toward a designated offshore landing point in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Starship upper stage will carry out multiple in-space objectives. These include the deployment of eight Starlink simulators, designed to mimic the next-generation Starlink satellites, along with experiments aimed at testing operational changes that could enable the upper stage to return to the launch site in future missions.

According to SpaceX, the overarching goal is to gather real-world data on vehicle dynamics, particularly during engine shutdowns and phase transitions throughout the flight.

Lessons From Flight 10

The 10th test flight, conducted in August, marked a milestone for SpaceX. The Super Heavy booster successfully ignited all 33 Raptor engines, lifted off smoothly, and ascended over the Gulf of Mexico. Using four aerodynamic flaps, the Starship upper stage executed controlled maneuvers, reached its target splashdown point in the Indian Ocean, performed a landing flip, and completed the test with a successful landing burn followed by a soft splashdown.

This success followed earlier setbacks. Flights 7 and 8, launched in January and March, ended in explosions less than ten minutes after liftoff, while Flight 9 in May broke apart upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere. The progress demonstrated in Flight 10 has raised confidence ahead of the upcoming mission.

Starship: A Vehicle for the Future

Standing at over 400 feet when fully stacked, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It consists of two reusable stages—the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage spacecraft.

SpaceX envisions Starship as the backbone of its long-term mission to make humans a multiplanetary species. The vehicle is being designed for deep-space exploration, including returning astronauts to the Moon under NASA’s Artemis 3 mission and eventually establishing a human presence on Mars.

With Flight 11, SpaceX aims to build on its recent success and push Starship development closer to operational readiness, setting the stage for its future role in space exploration and interplanetary settlement.