{"id":297954,"date":"2026-05-18T09:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T09:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/297954\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T09:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T09:25:07","slug":"spacexs-next-starship-set-to-blast-off-wednesday-from-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/297954\/","title":{"rendered":"SpaceX\u2019s next Starship set to blast off Wednesday from Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

It will be the first test flight of the\u00a0third generation of Starships<\/a> and the project\u2019s first flight since October<\/a>, when a second-generation Starship released a batch of dummy Starlink satellites and returned for a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

SpaceX has been upgrading the spacecraft and its two\u00a0Starbase launch towers as it prepares for as many as 25 flights a year from its border complex near Boca Chica Beach.<\/p>\n

The launch comes less than a month before the company is expected to go public<\/a> with a $2 trillion valuation in what\u2019s predicted to be the largest ever initial public offering. Shares are set to trade under the ticker \u201cSPCX\u201d on Nasdaq.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0SpaceX, the flight will resemble past missions, with the goal of operating the redesigned components \u201cin the flight environment for the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

After propelling the upper-stage Starship to space, the rocket\u2019s 20-story-tall booster<\/a> will return for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX won\u2019t try to land the booster back at the launch tower as it has in the past<\/a> because it \u201cis the first flight test of a significantly redesigned vehicle.\u201d<\/p>\n

While in space, Starship will attempt to release 20 dummy Starlink satellites<\/a> and two \u201cspecially modified\u201d Starlinks. SpaceX plans to use Starship to rapidly grow its Starlink satellite internet constellation. The company\u2019s biggest moneymaker<\/a> for three years running, that service is expected to generate $20 billion in revenue this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The two modified satellites \u201cwill scan Starship\u2019s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to test methods of analyzing Starship\u2019s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions,\u201d SpaceX said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company also has removed one of the craft\u2019s heat tiles to see what happens to adjacent tiles when one is missing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Like past flights,\u00a0SpaceX will test the craft\u2019s heat shield, engines and flight controls during the mission, including stressing \u201cthe structural limits of the vehicle\u2019s rear flaps and a dynamic banking maneuver to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starship is expected to splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour and five minutes after liftoff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

SpaceX will provide a live webcast of the test beginning about 45 minutes before liftoff on its website, X and the X TV app.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It will be the first test flight of the\u00a0third generation of Starships and the project\u2019s first flight since…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":297955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[933,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-297954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-austinlatest","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=297954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/297954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/297955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=297954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=297954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=297954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}