Starship Flight Test Update – IFT-14

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On 28 September 2026, SpaceX conducted Integrated Flight Test 14 (IFT-14) of the Starship program.

During ascent, the Super Heavy booster lost two engines. This did not affect overall booster performance. The Ship lost one engine and compensated for the resulting asymmetric thrust from its remaining two vacuum engines. Approximately 20 seconds of additional thrust from one sea-level Raptor engine was required for the Ship to reach its intended orbit.

The Ship completed 1.5 of the six planned orbits. Both the booster and the Ship performed soft water landings in the ocean.

There is a possibility that the FAA could grant SpaceX permission to attempt a Ship catch on a subsequent flight, which could occur as early as October.

Starship Program Timeline

Test	Date	Days Elapsed	Version Booster	Version Ship
IFT-1	20.04.23	–	V1 – B7	V1 – S24
IFT-2	18.11.23	212	V1 – B9	V1 – S25
IFT-3	14.03.24	117	V1 – B10	V1 – S28
IFT-4	06.06.24	84	V1 – B11	V1 – S29
IFT-5	13.10.24	129	V1 – B12	V1 – S30
IFT-6	19.11.24	37	V1 – B13	V1 – S31
IFT-7	16.01.25	58	V2 – B14(1)	V2 – S33
IFT-8	06.03.25	49	V2 – B15	V2 – S34
IFT-9	27.05.25	82	V2 – B14(2)	V2 – S35
IFT-10	24.08.25	150	V2 – B16	V2 – S37
IFT-11	13.10.25	50	V2 – B15(2)	V2 – S38
IFT-12	22.05.26	221	V3 – B19	V3 – S39
IFT-13	24.06.26	33	V3 – B20	V3 – S40
IFT-14	28.09.26	96	V3 – B21	V3 – S41

Flight Trajectory Comparison

Speed Comparison

Speed [km_h] x Seconds [s] (5).png

Altitude Comparison

Altitude [km] x Seconds [s] (5).png

Change Between Versions

Booster V1 + Ship V1 (IFT-3 to IFT-6)

Average speed at MECO: 5,455 km/h
Average altitude at MECO: 66 km

Booster V2 + Ship V2 (IFT-7 to IFT-11)

Average speed at MECO: 4,574 km/h
Average altitude at MECO: 60.4 km
Time at MECO: 160 seconds

Booster V3 + Ship V3 (IFT-12 onwards)

Average speed at MECO: 5,836 km/h
Average altitude at MECO: 51.3 km
Time at MECO: 145 seconds

Comparing V2 and V3

Time until most engines cut off (MECO) is 15 seconds earlier on V3.
V3 accelerates faster than V2.
V3 stage separation occurs approximately 9 km lower than on V2.

V3 Notes

Booster 19 and Booster 21 each lost one engine during ascent.

Some back-of-the-envelope math, what the economics of a partially loaded and single-use booster and ship could do for SpaceX already:

This is crazy.

Starship Flight 14 just deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites, 52 tonnes total.

At around $110M per launch, that is about $2.1M per tonne.

A Falcon 9 at $30M carrying 15 tonnes is about $2M per tonne.

So even as a fully expendable rocket, Starship is already… pic.twitter.com/wKqiISMmlR
— Lunar Citizen (@LunarCitizens) September 28, 2026

And an illustration how much more powerful V3 Starlink satellites are:

With today’s single Starship launch, SpaceX added more Starlink capacity in the last hour than the first ~1.5 years of Starlink launches. The next launch will cover another full year. Welcome to the network, V3! ? pic.twitter.com/piLnBvrq5n
— Rob Maurer (@robmaurer) September 28, 2026

Starship Specifications

Component	Details
Full Stack
Height	124 m
Diameter	9 m
Payload Capacity (Reusable)	100–150 t
Starship Spacecraft
Height	52 m
Diameter	9 m
Super Heavy Booster
Height	72 m
Diameter	9 m