Starship is cleared for its first try at orbit on Monday. It goes into orbit only if controllers are sure it can come back down

The stories

7 on this beat today.

Every story told the same way: what happened, who is involved, why it matters, how it works, the truth and the good news.

1. 01

   Starship is cleared for its first try at orbit on Monday. It goes into orbit only if controllers are sure it can come back down

   19 seconds

   the burn meant to turn Flight 14's path into an orbit

   it starts about 25 minutes after liftoff, once controllers have checked the ship [1][2]

   13

   earlier Starship flights, all on paths planned to fall back to Earth

   Flight 14 is the third flight of Starship's newest design, first flown in May [2][3]

   26

   new Starlink V3 satellites on board

   SpaceX says each one adds about 1 terabit per second of internet capacity [3]

   About 10 hours

   the planned length of Flight 14, liftoff to splashdown

   earlier flights each lasted about an hour [2]

   What happened

   • The FAA, the US regulator that licenses rocket launches, cleared SpaceX's Starship Flight 14 on 26 September and announced it the next day. [1]
   • Spaceflight Now noted before the decision that it would be the first orbital licence the FAA has given for anything as big as Starship's 52-metre upper stage. [5]
   • Liftoff from Starbase in south Texas is set for 12:15 GMT on Monday 28 September, in a 75-minute window. [3]
   • All 13 earlier Starship flights followed paths planned to fall back to Earth.
   • Flight 14 is its first try at orbit. [2][4]
   • The ship's own engines fire from 2 minutes 22 seconds to 8 minutes 11 seconds after liftoff. [3]
   • It is then on the same safe path as earlier flights, heading for the Indian Ocean, while controllers check its health. [1]
   • It will fire into orbit only once controllers are sure the parts it needs to come back down have working back-ups. [2]
   • That burn starts 25 minutes 17 seconds after liftoff and lasts 19 seconds.
   • It should leave the ship circling about 275 km up. [1][3]
   • Ten minutes later it is to start releasing 26 of SpaceX's new Starlink V3 internet satellites. [1]
   • SpaceX says together they add ten times the capacity of one Falcon 9 launch of its older ones. [3]
   • Twenty V3 satellites flew on Flight 13 in July, but on a falling path, so they soon came back down. [1][6]
   • After six orbits, one engine fires for 11 seconds to bring the ship down into the Pacific off Chile, a first for Starship, about 10 hours after launch. [1][6]
   • If the ship could not make that burn, it could fall out of control, and its heat shield and size could let large pieces reach the ground, Spaceflight Now reported. [5]
   • NASA hired SpaceX in 2021 to land astronauts on the Moon with Starship, and a crewed landing is planned for 2028. [1][2]

   about 1 hourFlights 1 to 13

   vsvs

   about 10 hoursFlight 14, if all goes well

   Who is involved

   • SpaceX the company that builds Starship and runs Starlink, its internet satellites; it flies Flight 14
   • The FAA the Federal Aviation Administration, the US regulator for launches; it licensed Flight 14 on 26 September
   • NASA the US space agency; it hired SpaceX in 2021 to land astronauts on the Moon with Starship

   How it unfolded

   1. 2016 Elon Musk shows the first Starship design at a space conference in Guadalajara, Mexico [2]
   2. July Flight 13 releases 20 test satellites on a falling path [1]
   3. 21 Sept the Super Heavy booster is placed on the launch pad [5][6]
   4. 23 Sept the ship is lifted onto the booster by the launch tower's arms [4][7]
   5. 26 Sept the FAA licenses the flight [1]
   6. 28 Sept the launch window opens at 12:15 GMT [3]

   Why it matters

   Watch for the 19-second burn about 25 minutes after liftoff: if the checks before it fail, the ship stays on its old path and falls into the Indian Ocean. [1]

   The truth

   • Who gains SpaceX — The licence lets it try to put its first 26 Starlink V3 satellites into orbit, which it says add ten times the capacity of one Falcon 9 launch. [1][3]
   • Who gains NASA — It needs Starship working in orbit to land astronauts on the Moon, with a crewed landing planned for 2028. [2]
   • Who pays Visitors to Boca Chica Beach, near Starbase — The beach closes on launch days, and 29 and 30 September are held as back-up closure days. [3]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether Starship reaches orbit on Monday.

     The flight starts after this edition. SpaceX will fire into orbit only if the checks during the coast pass. [1][2]

   • Nobody knows yet

     Which engines Starship will use for the burn into orbit.

     Aviation Week quotes SpaceX saying one engine built for use near the ground. [1] Space.com says one or more of the three engines built for space. [2]

1. 02

   Pakistan's first astronaut will fly with China

   What happened

   • Two Pakistani pilots, Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, have trained for months at China's astronaut centre in Beijing, Pakistan's space agency told Reuters. [8]
   • One will fly to Tiangong, China's space station, as the first foreigner China has carried. [8]
   • The stay will be about a week, against roughly six months for China's own crews. [8]
   • China has not said who or when, and a final choice is expected in mid-to-late October. [8]
   • Chinese institutes picked four Pakistani experiments, on food and climate, from more than 300 proposals. [8]

   A Chinese crew's stayabout 6 months

   vsvs

   Pakistan's first flyerabout a week

   Why it matters

   Pakistan has no rocket or crew capsule of its own, so its astronaut rides a Chinese craft, trained by Chinese instructors, and speaks Mandarin in orbit. [8]

   Citizens of about 50 countries have flown in space, but only Russia, the US and China have launched their own crews. [8]

   The truth

   • Who gains China — Flying Pakistan's first astronaut ties another country's human spaceflight to China's craft, instructors and language, alongside a Pakistani rover due on China's Chang'e 8 Moon mission. [8]
   • Who gains Pakistani university scientists — Four of their experiments, chosen from more than 300 proposals, get tested on a space station. [8]
   • Who pays Pakistan's space agency — With no rocket or crew capsule of its own, it flies on China's terms: a Chinese craft, Mandarin in orbit, and a stay of about a week. [8]
   • Nobody knows yet

     Which Pakistani pilot flies to China's station, and when.

     China has not said, and Pakistan's space agency expects a final choice in mid-to-late October. [8]

   Good news

   • Four experiments from Pakistani universities, picked from more than 300 proposals, will fly to China's space station with Pakistan's first astronaut. Each was built and tested in Pakistan's own labs first.
2. 03

   FCC votes on skipping environment checks

   What happened

   • The FCC, the US regulator that licenses satellites' radio signals, votes on 30 September on a draft order about environmental reviews, Payload reports. [11]
   • The order says space operations are not 'major federal actions'. [11]
   • That phrase is what triggers a review under NEPA, a US law that makes agencies study a project's effects before approving it. [11]
   • Satellite licences have been exempt from FCC environmental review since 1986, and the order would put them outside the law entirely. [11]
   • The FCC argues that because no country can own space, effects there fall outside the law. [11]

   Why it matters

   The FAA proposed in July to waive NEPA and 12 other laws, including the Endangered Species Act, for commercial launch licences, and received more than 3,200 comments. [11]

   Payload notes the effects of that rule would fall mostly on private sites such as SpaceX's Starbase. [11]

   The truth

   • What is really going on US regulators are loosening the checks on space companies as low orbit fills up: the FCC votes on 30 September on putting satellite operations outside US environmental law entirely, and the FAA has proposed waiving 13 laws for launch licences. [11]
   • Who gains Satellite operators and private launch sites — The FCC's draft order would put space operations outside US environmental review altogether, and the FAA's proposal would waive 13 laws for launch licences. [11]
   • Who pays People and wildlife around private launch sites such as Starbase — The FAA's proposed waiver covers laws including the Endangered Species Act and the Noise Control Act, and Payload notes its effects would fall mostly on private sites. [11]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How the FCC votes on 30 September, and whether the FAA waives 13 laws for launch licences.

     Both are still proposals. The FAA's drew more than 3,200 comments, and no date for a final rule is given. [11]

   • Nobody knows yet

     What far more launches and re-entries do to the upper air.

     Payload notes this is still unknown and needs more research, even as the US aims for more than 1,000 launches and re-entries a year by 2030. [11]

1. 04

   Juice swings past Earth on Monday

   What happened

   • Juice, the European Space Agency's probe to Jupiter's icy moons, passes 8,640 km above Earth on Monday 28 September, closest at 13:45 central European summer time. [10]
   • Earth's pull will change its speed and bend its path, setting up one last Earth flyby in January 2029. [10]
   • It launched in 2023, then swung past the Moon and Earth in 2024 and Venus in 2025. [9]
   • It is due at Jupiter in July 2031. [10]
   • Only one small course correction, four weeks out, was needed to line up this pass. [10]

   123456

   2,0232,0272,031

   1. 1Launch2,023
   2. 2Moon and Earth2,024
   3. 3Venus2,025
   4. 4Earth, Monday2,026
   5. 5Earth again2,029
   6. 6Jupiter2,031

   Why it matters

   The team will use the pass to calibrate Juice's instruments on Earth and the Moon before they are needed at Jupiter. [10]

   For about 21 hours it runs through Earth's shadow on battery power, so some instruments are switched off. [10]

   How it works

   Getting to space takes height. Staying there takes sideways speed

   Anything that climbs falls back down. To stay up, a craft must also go sideways so fast that the ground curves away as quickly as it falls.

   The twist

   Starship's 13 earlier flights all took paths that fall back to Earth. Flight 14 takes the same path, and one 19-second burn, 25 minutes in, is meant to turn it into an orbit.

   The picture

   Ship's engines on the climb349

   Burn into orbit19

   Burn back down11

   Step by step

   1. 1 A rocket first climbs out of the thick air
   2. 2 Then it tips over and speeds up along the ground
   3. 3 Too slow sideways, and its path bends back down into the air
   4. 4 A short burn near the top adds the last speed and lifts the far side of the path
   5. 5 Now it falls around Earth, and the ground keeps curving away beneath it
   6. 6 To come home it fires again, slows down, and drops back into the air

   The same force, elsewhere today

   Where this chain is also running, in today's other stories.

   • Juice swings past Earth on Monday

     Earth's pull changes Juice's speed as it passes, and the new speed reshapes its whole path around the Sun, setting up its last pass of Earth in 2029.

   • A daytime meteor shower peaks

     specks of dust circle the Sun on a path that crosses Earth's, and where that path meets our air they burn up as meteors.

   • Starlink dodges once every 75 seconds

     each dodge is a small change of speed, which moves a satellite's path away from the other object's.

   Where you've seen this

   A bucket swung overhead

   swing it fast enough and the water stays in, even upside down; slow down and it spills.

   A spinning fairground ride

   riders stay pressed to the wall while it spins fast, and slide down when it slows.

   The catch

   The speed that keeps a craft up does not switch itself off. If Starship could not fire to slow down, it would stay up until the thin air dragged it down somewhere nobody chose.

   And the whole of it

   Every satellite behind a phone map, a weather forecast or a Starlink dish stays up for the same reason: a rocket once gave it enough sideways speed. The people who use them almost never see that push.

   Good news

   • Juice needed only one small course correction, four weeks out, to line up Monday's pass of Earth on its way to Jupiter.

1. 05

   Starlink dodges once every 75 seconds

   What happened

   • Starlink, SpaceX's internet satellite network, moved its satellites nearly 35,000 times a month to dodge possible crashes in the period to May 2026, Ars Technica reports. [12]
   • That is one move every 75 seconds, up from about 500 a month five years ago. [12]
   • A move does not mean a near miss: SpaceX moves when the chance of a crash reaches 3 in 10 million, against NASA's standard of 1 in 10,000. [12]
   • About 17,000 working satellites are now in orbit, some 11,000 of them Starlink's. [12]

   Five years ago500

   Period to May 202635,000

   Why it matters

   The European Space Agency's yearly report on space junk, released this month, projects crashes in orbit rising faster and faster if launches keep growing, even if operators follow good practice. [12]

   Ars expects working in orbit to cost more, in dodging equipment, staff and fuel. [12]

   How it works

   each dodge is a small change of speed, which moves a satellite's path away from the other object's.

   The idea, in story 04: Getting to space takes height. Staying there takes sideways speed →

   The truth

   • What is really going on Starlink already moves its satellites nearly 35,000 times a month to dodge crashes, and Starship's first flight to orbit carries 26 more. [12][1]
   • Who pays Every other satellite operator in low orbit — More satellites mean more dodging, and Ars Technica expects that to cost more in equipment, staff and fuel. [12]
   • Nobody knows yet

     How many of Starlink's 35,000 monthly moves were real dangers.

     A move does not mean a near miss, and SpaceX moves at a far lower risk than NASA's rule, so the count alone does not say how close anything came. [12]

   Good news

   • SpaceX moves a Starlink satellite whenever the chance of a crash reaches 3 in 10 million, a far stricter line than NASA's standard of 1 in 10,000.
2. 06

   Bennu formed where water froze

   What happened

   • Scientists led by Maria Schonbachler at ETH Zurich in Switzerland measured iron, titanium and chromium in half a gram of the asteroid Bennu. [13]
   • It came from the 120 grams NASA's OSIRIS-REx brought back in 2023. [13]
   • The iron and titanium were evenly mixed, which points to fine dust rather than lumps. [13]
   • Water-bearing minerals suggest Bennu's parent formed near the line where water froze, around where Jupiter is now. [13]
   • The study was published on 23 September in Science Advances. [13]

   Why it matters

   Bennu's make-up matches Ryugu, the asteroid Japan's Hayabusa2 mission sampled, and a rare kind of meteorite, so all three may share a birthplace. [13]

   Schonbachler said Bennu may offer the best glimpse yet of the mix the rocky planets were built from. [13]

   The truth

   • Nobody knows yet

     Whether other asteroids share Bennu's make-up.

     Schonbachler's team is now asking this, and only more samples can answer it. [13]

   Good news

   • Half a gram of the asteroid Bennu, shared out from a sample brought home in 2023, suggests it formed from fine dust near where Jupiter is now.
3. 07

   A daytime meteor shower peaks

   What happened

   • The Daytime Sextantids meteor shower is active from 22 September to 13 October, as Earth passes through a trail of dust whose source has not been pinned down. [14]
   • Its meteors seem to come from a point about 30 degrees from the Sun, so most are lost in daylight and are easier to catch by radio. [14]
   • Up to five may be seen in the hour before dawn around the peak. [14]
   • Forecasts of the peak differ: 27 September in one listing, and 30 September to 4 October from Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society. [14]

   Why it matters

   Lunsford says the meteors that are seen skim the top of the air and leave trails lasting several seconds. [14]

   A bright Moon will hide the faintest of them. [14]

   How it works

   specks of dust circle the Sun on a path that crosses Earth's, and where that path meets our air they burn up as meteors.

   The idea, in story 04: Getting to space takes height. Staying there takes sideways speed →

   The truth

   • Nobody knows yet

     When the Daytime Sextantids peak.

     One guide lists 27 September, and Robert Lunsford of the American Meteor Society estimates 30 September to 4 October; too little data exists to pin it down. [14]