SpaceX says Starship Flight 14 finished its full-stack wet dress rehearsal on September 24 and is targeting Monday, September 28 (window opens 7:15 a.m. CT) for Starship’s first try at orbit with 26 Starlink V3 satellites. At publication the launch still needed an FAA license modification; the FAA has since issued the Flight 14 license (see update). The October dates now going around, including a first Florida launch from LC-39A no earlier than October 30, come from air-traffic planning slides. They are not SpaceX announcements.

NASASpaceflight — SpaceX Is Ready to Send Starship Into Orbit | This Week in Spaceflight — NASASpaceflight’s weekly news desk (published Sept. 26, 2026) covering the Flight 14 rehearsal, LC-39A progress, and the testing and approvals still needed. The receipts in this brief are SpaceX, the FAA, and news reports — not the video title.

At a glance

Rehearsed ≠ licensed. The vehicle side of Flight 14 has cleared its last big pre-launch test by SpaceX’s account. Regulatory permission to fly is a separate gate, and the October dates are tentative.

  • Confirmed: Full-stack wet dress rehearsal completed Sept. 24; Sept. 28 target, 75-minute window opening 7:15 a.m. CT (8:15 a.m. ET), pending regulatory approval.
  • Confirmed: The FAA says the orbital plan needs a license modification that meets safety, policy/payload, and financial-responsibility requirements. Update Sep 27: that license has been issued (reported Sept. 26).
  • Tentative: Flight 15 no earlier than Oct. 19; first Florida Starship launch from LC-39A no earlier than Oct. 30, both per planning slides as reported.

What SpaceX has put on the record

SpaceX said on Sept. 24 that it had completed a wet dress rehearsal for Flight 14, Space.com reported. In that test, Booster 21 and Ship 41 are fully fueled and taken through a launch-day countdown without igniting the engines. The company says the flight remains on track for Monday, Sept. 28, from Starbase in South Texas, pending regulatory approval.

SpaceX’s mission page lists the Ship’s main goals: the first orbital insertion burn, deployment of 26 Starlink V3 satellites, a deorbit burn with a single Raptor engine while in space, and a controlled reentry and splashdown in the Pacific. SpaceX adds a condition: Starship will do the burn to enter orbit only after the flight control team confirms enough redundancy on the hardware needed for the deorbit burn. Every earlier Starship test flew a deliberately suborbital path, so this condition matters.

The FAA gate, now cleared

An orbital Ship needs a modified FAA license. The agency told Spaceflight Now that besides the environmental review, a license application must also meet FAA safety, policy/payload, and financial-responsibility requirements before flight is authorized. As of Saturday morning ET, when this brief first ran, we had not seen a public FAA approval for Flight 14. Late Saturday (Sept. 26, 5:07 p.m. ET) the Flight 14 launch license was reported issued, per Launch Library 2 citing an FAA record. That clears the regulatory gate. It does not guarantee a Monday launch; the target is still a target, not a countdown.

The October dates, fenced

This week’s coverage, including NASASpaceflight’s episode, also points to more Starship flights soon after. The specific dates in circulation are Flight 15 no earlier than Oct. 19 and a first launch from Kennedy Space Center’s LC-39A, labeled Starlink 30-1, no earlier than Oct. 30. They come from air-traffic planning slides reported by outlets including Behind the Black. SpaceX has not announced them. The FAA’s LC-39A environmental decision says in plain terms that finishing that review does not guarantee a Starship license from the Florida pad. Read these dates as planning markers that depend on how Flight 14 goes.

Bottom Line

By SpaceX’s account the rocket is ready, and with the FAA license now issued, a Monday attempt is possible but not guaranteed. The first-orbit milestone, the Florida debut, and a two-week cadence are all still ahead. Watch the launch webcast and any scrub or delay calls next. Treat October dates as “no earlier than” until SpaceX confirms them.

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