SpaceX prepares for defining moment for Starship spacecraft test – SABC News – Breaking news, special reports, world, business, sport coverage of all South African current events. Africa’s news leader.

Elon Musk’s private space company SpaceX is preparing for what could be a defining test of the world’s most powerful rocket, with a launch window opening on Monday for its giant Starship spacecraft.

Starship’s 14th flight is set to launch on Monday, Sept 28. The 75-minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. CT. Live coverage of the mission starts ~35 minutes before launch → https://t.co/uQKQvgaTmJ
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 27, 2026

Unlike its previous test flights, this mission is designed to put Starship into a stable Earth orbit for the first time and deploy 26 next-generation Starlink internet satellites.

The flight is intended to demonstrate that Starship can move beyond testing towards becoming an operational, reusable launch vehicle.

This could be the test that moves Starship from experimentation towards actual operations.

Unlike previous flights, SpaceX will attempt to place Starship into a stable Earth orbit for the first time, during a mission lasting almost 10-hours. It will also carry a real payload, 26 next-generation Starlink internet satellites and attempt to deploy them in space.

The newer Starship incorporates upgraded engines and other design changes, with a successful flight likely  representing a major step towards SpaceX’s goal of a fully reusable rocket system for satellites, the Moon and eventually Mars.