SpaceX-NASA Crew 12 Launch – Friday 13 February 2026

Article cover: SpaceX Crew 12 (left to right): Roscosmos’ Fedyaev, NASA’s Hathaway and Meir, and ESA’s Adenot
floating in front of a photo of ISS taken from the approaching Dragon Capsule (SpaceX / NASA, 13-14 February 2026).

SpaceX-Crew 12 launched on Friday 13 February 2026 from Florida taking the multinational crew to the International Space Station (ISS) where they joined ISS Expedition 74/75.

In a flowless flight, the Falcon 9 rocket delivered the Dragon capsule into orbit and this spacecraft docked to the ISS the following day.

Go to

Updates

14 Feb 2026: Welcome to ISS.
14 Feb 2026: Docking to ISS.

Background

Crew 12 Launch - 13 Feb 2026.
Wightlessness.
Space.

References

UPDATES

Crew-12 welcome ceremony at ISS
14 February 2026

After a successful launch and docking manoeuvres, SpaceX-NASA Crew 12 were welcomed at the ISS by the 3 astronauts of Expedition 74 who were living at the station since the departure of Crew 11 on 14 January 2025: NASA’s Christopher Williams and Roscosmos’ Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Mikayev.

Crew 12’s mission “Epsilon” contemplates working at ISS for 8 months.

Commander Jessica Meir congratulated the ground teams of SpaceX and NASA that worked together to achieve yet another successful delivery of astronauts to the ISS. Each member of the crew talked about their experience during training and ascent. This was the first flight to space for Sophie Adenot and Jack Hathaway, and the second for the Jessica Meir and Andrey Fedyaev.

Expedition 74 (top, left to right): Kud-Sverchkov, Williams and Mikayev; and
arriving Crew 12 (bottom, left to right): Fedyaev, Hathaway, Meir and Adenot (SpaceX, NASA, 14 February 2026).

Crew 12 entering ISS through Zenith port. Top: Sophie Adenot and Jack Hathaway.
Bottom: Float and fun (SpaceX, NASA, 14 February 2026).

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Dragon docking to ISS – 14 February 2026

The SpaceX Dragon Capsule successfully docked to the ISS at 20:15 GMT on Saturday 14 February 2026 (same time as that within ISS or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)).

The event was broadcast live by SpaceX and NASA communicators and begun when Dragon was at around 400 metres from the International Space Station (ISS). Within one hour all the waypoints were passed successfully and in the final 20 metres, docking was controlled autonomously, first completing a soft contact and then securing a hard docking, which activates 12 hooks that secure the vessels together. Shortly after confirming docking, the astronauts were allowed to take off their spacesuits and prepare to board the ISS. This preparation includes an inventory of material used, food and liquid consumed and even liquid collected as urine, as this will be recycled at ISS to recover water.

Dragon docked to Node 2 Zenith hatch, one of the 8 docking ports at the ISS (6 currently in use). Astronaut Chris Williams (one of the current crew of 3 at ISS) prepared the port for the arrival of the crew 12. Among other duties, he was in charge or pressurising the vestibule or small gap between the vehicles.

Top: View of ISS from approx. 400m as Dragon approaches for docking.
Bottom: View of Dragon’s control panel operated by the pilot and the commander (SpaceX, NASA, 14 February 2026).

Dragon Freedom at 100m from ISS, then at 1m from Node 2 Zenith port, and finally in contact with the station (SpaceX, NASA, 14 February 2026).

END of UPDATES

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BACKGROUND

SpaceX – NASA’s Crew 12's Launch - 13feb2026

SpaceX’s Crew 12 launched successfully on board a Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Centre’s Launch complex 40 in Cape Canaveral. Florida, USA on Friday 13 February 2026. The Dragon Freedom Capsule fitted at the top of the rocket carried the crew of four to the International Space Station (ISS). The event marked the beginning of an 8-month mission named “Epsilon”.

A Nominal Launch

Preparations commonly start 6 hours before launch, when the astronauts arrive at the Preparation Room for Pre-launch checks of personal equipment and communications. Specialists help them put on their customised suits (donning); followed by a medical evaluation to ensure their fitness to fly. Traditionally, the astronauts play a card game with a member of the team before leaving the room to greet the public and their families before embarking their Tesla vehicles that take them to the launch pad.

Typically, during that short trip, astronauts typically select a piece of music to inspire them for their journey. At the launch pad, they ride a lift pressing the top button that says “Space”. They ring a bell at the top of the tower before they walk along the loading arm to the capsule. Specialists secure the crew into their seats and verify the hatch is closed properly before retracting the loading arm.

Top: Crew 12 emerging from the preparation zone, boarding their Tesla vehicles after saying goodbye to their families.
Bottom: Pilot and Commander, followed by Mission Specialists walking along the boarding arm (SpaceX, NASA, 13 February 2026).

Two hours before launch Falcon 9 is fuelled. The rocket’s Merlin engines burn two fuels: A refined form of Kerosene “RP-1” and liquid Oxygen “LOX”, the former at ambient temperature and the latter in cryogenic form (chilled to -183^oC) to maintain its liquid state.

At launch, the main lifting force comes from the First Stage’s 9 Merlin engines that together produce a thrust of 7,607 kN (kiloneutons), which takes the spacecraft, weighing 549,000 kg (549 metric tons), to an altitude of 70 km, at which point it separates from the stages on top. The Second Stage has a single Merlin engine optimised to work in vacuum that produces a thrust of 1,200 kN, required to insert the capsule into orbit and accelerate it to 7.8 km/sec before separation. The capsule needs to catch up with the ISS to dock in orbit, which means it needs to accelerate to match the ISS' speed (28,000 km/h or 7.66 km/sec) and altitude (400 km above the surface of Earth).

Falcon 9 at Launch, beginning lift off (counter at 00.00.00) at Launch Complex 40, Kennedy Space Centre (SpaceX, NASA, 13 February 2026).

Top: Separation of second stage and ignition of the single Merlin engine.
Middle: Crew during ascent with Merlin engine at full throttle.
Bottom: Vartical landing of the First Stage (SpaceX, NASA, 13 February 2026).

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Weightlessness

To put this into perspective, 1 kiloneuton is equivalent to the force required to lift 100 kg (or 100 littles of water), therefore the first stage can not only lift the Falcon rocket (overcoming Earth’s gravitational force) but accelerate it to 7.66 km/sec and catch the ISS in orbit. This speed is needed to almost break free from Earth’s gravity but not continue into space (to break completely free from Earth’s gravity, an object would need a speed of 11.2 km/sec, known as “Escape Velocity”, at which point it would continue travelling away from Earth without further thrust needed).

To remain in orbit, the ISS needs to travel fast enough to balance-out the centripetal force generated by Earth’s gravity pushing towards the centre of the planet, with an apparent centrifugal force (pushing away from the centre of the Earth) that results from moving very fast horizontally (parallel to Earth’ surface). This balance of forces that depends more on horizontal speed than altitude, is felt by the astronauts onboard the moving vehicle as weightlessness (micro-gravity).

Although “free fall” is a widely recognised and technically correct term for the motion of spacecraft in orbit like ISS, it is somewhat misleading because it implies loss of altitude, when altitude has not changed. “Free falling” in physics refers to an object upon which the only acting force is gravity, regardless of changes in altitude This is because spacecraft move forward fast enough to keep missing their loss of altitude.

The feeling of Weighlessness results from a balance between the Centripetal force induced by Gravity and
the Centrifugal effect resulting from Horizontal Acceleration of a spacecraft (Ren@rt, 2026).

Crew 12’s Zero-G indicator was named “Planet Gaia”. At the centre was a crochet planet Earth tethered to four satellites, each selected by a member of the crew: A panda holding a mushroom symbolising the importance of the environment (by Meir); a Moon (made by Hathaway’s daughter); a Banana representing one of the most common fruits in a kitchen and missed at ISS (by Adenot).

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MORE TO COME (part of the template below).

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District Judge Timothy Kelly, left, swears in Jared Isaacman, right, as the 15th administrator of NASA, as Isaacman’s parents, Donald and Sandra Marie, join on 18 Dec. 2025, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. (NASA/Bill Ingalls, 2025).

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Isaacman was first nominated by President Trump in January 2024, then his nomination was pulled out at the end of May due to Isaacman’s donations to Democratic candidates and his close relationship with Elon Musk, funder and CEO of SpaceX. Trump’s social media post once described Isaacman as "a blue-blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before".

In an unusual turn, Trump nominated Isaacman again in November, Isaacman posted on “X” "Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity. It will be an honour to serve my country under your leadership".

After a year of uncertainty and temporary leadership that culminated with Sean Duffy as interim administrator, the U.S. Senate passed Isaacman’s second nomination from 04 November with a 67-30 vote, marking a pivotal shift in how the world’s most famous space agency operates. Isaacman is not a traditional bureaucrat; he is a pilot, a philanthropist, and a pioneer who has already personally commanded historic missions into Earth’s orbit.

On his first nomination to the U.S. Senate on the 09 April 2025 session, Isaacman introduced himself and explained his views. The following segment of the Senate session shows his 6-minute presentation at the 54minute mark (the full session lasts 3 hours).

Jared Isaacman Senate nomination hearing for NASA administration (NASA, 09 April 2025).

LOADER

Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator – 18 Dec 2025

Article cover: Jared Isaacman, 15^th NASA Administrator 18 Dec. 2025 (NASA, 2026).

On 18 December 2025, NASA announced that Jared Isaacman was sworn as the 15th Administrator of the organisation. The ceremony was held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, USA.

Go to

Updates

20 Jan 2026: Recognise, Reward, Inspire.

Background

15th NASA Administrator.
An epic journey to Administrator.
Jared, Aviation and Space.

References

UPDATE

20 January 2026: Recognise, Reward, Inspire

– 20 January 2026

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman issued a workforce directive that reflects the values of flight, history and public engagement built into the fabric of the agency since its creation. Based on “Recognise, Reward and Inspire”, the message calls managers to continue their work with rigour and keep nurturing people as they deal with hardware and budgets. The directive notes that aviation is not just a technical area, but a cultural base built by the workforce.

END of UPDATE

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BACKGROUND

15th NASA Administrator – Sworn on 18 December 2025

As Isaacman accepted his new position, he commented:
“I am deeply honoured to be sworn in as NASA administrator, NASA’s mission is as imperative and urgent as ever, to push the boundaries of human exploration, ignite the orbital economy, drive scientific discovery, and innovate for the benefit of all of humanity. I look forward to serving under President Trump’s leadership and restoring a mission-first culture at NASA, focused on achieving ambitious goals, to return American astronauts to the Moon, establish an enduring presence on the lunar surface, and laying the groundwork to deliver on President Trump’s vision of planting the Stars and Stripes on Mars”.

District Judge Timothy Kelly, left, swears in Jared Isaacman, right, as the 15th administrator of NASA, as Isaacman’s parents, Donald and Sandra Marie, join on 18 Dec. 2025, at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington. (NASA/Bill Ingalls, 2025).

Isaacman was first nominated by President Trump in January 2024, then his nomination was pulled out at the end of May due to Isaacman’s donations to Democratic candidates and his close relationship with Elon Musk, funder and CEO of SpaceX. Trump’s social media post once described Isaacman as "a blue-blooded Democrat, who had never contributed to a Republican before".

In an unusual turn, Trump nominated Isaacman again in November, Isaacman posted on “X” "Thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity. It will be an honour to serve my country under your leadership".

After a year of uncertainty and temporary leadership that culminated with Sean Duffy as interim administrator, the U.S. Senate passed Isaacman’s second nomination from 04 November with a 67-30 vote, marking a pivotal shift in how the world’s most famous space agency operates. Isaacman is not a traditional bureaucrat; he is a pilot, a philanthropist, and a pioneer who has already personally commanded historic missions into Earth’s orbit.

On his first nomination to the U.S. Senate on the 09 April 2025 session, Isaacman introduced himself and explained his views. The following segment of the Senate session shows his 6-minute presentation at the 54minute mark (the full session lasts 3 hours).

Jared Isaacman Senate nomination hearing for NASA administration (NASA, 09 April 2025).

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Jared’s epic journey to Administrator

Jared Isaacman is an entrepreneur that became a billionaire from his ventures that started when he founded his first payment-processing company in Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA in 1999, when he was 16 years old. The company started as “United Bank Card” which aimed at helping small businesses with their payments.

Bloomberg Original interviewed Jared Isaacman as one of the American school dropouts that became millionaires (4m21s).

Isaacman on United Bank Card’s growth (Bloomberg Originals, 2011).

United Bank Card’s growth

Jared Isaacman started running his first company “United Bank Card” from the basement of his family house, employing his mother Sandy Isaacman as the bookkeeper and his father Don Isaacman for public relations as Jared was too young to get a driver’s licence or a credit card. In the first 3 years, Jared’s company grew 2,000 percent and kept expanding.

In 2004 the company removed the up-front cost of payment devices and in 2008 they created HarbourTouch that focused on efficient payments for restaurants. By 2017, they had developed three further software solutions for big companies (POSitouch, RestaurantManager and Future POS) and created Shift4 to handle even larger companies, adding security, payment connectivity and integration with existing software.

In 2021, they added VenueNext for large venues and Shift4Shop for E-Commerce. In 2022, they bought Finaro, a Pan-European e-commerce provider; GivingBlock that specialises in Crypto-currency donations; and Skytab a point of sale solution. In 2024 they grew again, acquiring Givex, that caters for Canada, CIP for UK and Ireland, Vectron for Germany and GlobalBlue for luxury retail and tax-free shopping solutions worldwide.

Shift4 worldwide payment processing solutions (Shif4, 2026).

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Jared, Aviation and Space

Jared Isaacman became a pilot quite young and flew in acrobatic shows for charity.

Isaacsman’s interest in space led him to fund the Polaris Space Programme, commanding private orbital missions Inspiration 4 and Polaris Dawn, during which he achieved the first-ever civilian spacewalk.

Jared achievements in aerospace include an extensive experience as an aircraft pilot and his participation in self-funded space missions to Earth’s orbit.

Certifications

Space certifications

2024: Polaris Dawn mission: First commercial spacewalk; highest crewed orbit in 50+ years (870 miles); farthest humans have travelled from Earth since Apollo 17

2021: Inspiration4 mission: First all-civilian orbital spaceflight.

2009: Circumnavigated the globe in a light jet (Cessna Citation CJ2) in 61 hours, 51 minutes, 15 seconds.

Military aircraft pilot certifications

Aero L-39 Albatros

Aero L-159 ALCA

Douglas A-4 Skyhawk

Canadair T-33 Shooting Star

Aeromachi MB-339

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29UB

Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jet

Northrop F-5 Tiger and T-38 Talon

Civilian jet pilot type ratings

CE-500, 510, 525, 650, RA390

Vision, efficiency and national pride

Central to Isaacman’s philosophy is the restoration of what he describes as a "mission-first" culture. This vision was articulated in a detailed 62-page document titled "Project Athena", published in “Politico Report” in early November, which outlines his desire for NASA to operate in a leaner, more efficient manner. In the current competition for space exploration Isaacman is committed to ensuring that American returns to the Moon before China. His ambitious goals aim at establishing lunar presence to learn and improve exploration technologies that will eventually allow to achieve the same on the Martian surface.

NASA Town Hall presentation – 19 December 2025.

Jared Isaacman was introduced to NASA staff and media at his first “Town Hall” address to the agency on 19 December 2025. Isaacman presented his three key priorities of his administration:

• The Artemis 2 mission, that will be prioritised to return American astronauts to the Moon, scheduled for 2026.
• The Orbital Economythat focuses on a transition from a tax-payer-funded agency to a self-sustaining commercial model that together with academia, will allow maximising the life of the International Space Station (ISS) and develop more stations.
• Space exploration, with a promotion of research to prepare humanity for a human mission to Mars.

Isaacman’s leadership will advocate for a more agile organisational structure that prioritises missions and “pushes responsibilities down” to young talent. There will be better control of spending to maximise value maintaining high standards of safety, and a management of risk to speed-up discovery. He aims at reminding contractors that they work for NASA and not the other way around and that they will be held accountable with strict budgets and schedules. Building infrastructure will be revised to modernise and repurpose aging structures.

He will promote returning to work physically together and increase the search for new talent. As an aviator, he will expand the “X-plane” portfolio and designs in propulsion technology.

Watch NASA’s Town Hall address for more detail (50min).

Jared Isaacman’s Town Hall address as 15th NASA Administrator, 19 December 2025 (NASA, 2025).

Political and fiscal domains.

Some members of the American Congress voiced their concern regarding Isaacman’s ties to SpaceX and Elon Musk. In an interview, Isaacman denied any close tie with Elon Musk other than their interaction during the Inspiration 4 and Polaris Dawn missions. The missions involved his donation of US$100 million to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and raising funds with the mission to a value of US$250 million in 2021.

Isaacman was sued four times for check fraud and suspected of a similar issue in Canada, but the cases were resolved and charges dropped without further repercussion. Despite a reduction of NASA’s funding by 25% and research funding by 50% in 2026 budget, Isaacman expressed his commitment to continue his plans to drive innovation and space exploration.

Elon Musk and Jared Isaacman masked during preparations for SpaceX Polaris mission. Jared’s first commercial spacewalk (SpaceX, 2024).

Find out more about the Polaris Dawn mission (10-15 September 2024) in the ren@rt & science article available at https://renartscience.blogspot.com/2025/04/spacex-polaris-dawn-1-10-to-15-sep-2024 (opens in a new tab/window).

SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission: First commercial EVA, 10-15 September 2024 (Ren@art, SpaceX, 2024).

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REFERENCES

» Decker A (2025) A confidential manifesto lays out Isaacman's sweeping new vision for NASA. Politico.com, 11 March 2025 [Online]. Available at Politico.com. 10 January 2026.
» Dinner J (2025) US Senate confirms Jared Isaacman as new NASA administrator. Space.com, 17 December 2025 [Online]. Available at Space.com. 05 January 2026.
» Holt C (2026) NASA chief Jared Isaacman drops bold workforce order focused on aviation and legacy. MSN-News [Online]. Available at MSN.com. Accessed: 25 January 2026.
» NASA (2025) Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator. NASA [Online]. Available at NASA.gov. Accessed: 10 January 2026.
» Shift4 (2026) Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator. NASA [Online]. Available at NASA.gov. Accessed: 10 January 2026.
» Taveau J (2025) NASA Welcomes 15th Administrator Jared Isaacman. NASA [Online]. Available at NASA.gov. Accessed: 05 January 2026.
» Wall M (2025) Trump renominates billionaire Jared Isaacman for NASA chief in major reversal. Space.com, 05 November 2025 [Online]. Available at Space.com. 10 January 2026.
» Wikipedia (2026) Jared Isaacman [Online]. Available at Wikipedia.com. Accessed: 10 January 2026.

== END of Jared Isaacman, NASA Administrator – 18 Dec 2025 ==

SpaceX Starship Flight Test 11 – 13 October 2025

Article cover: Article cover: SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 11, Elon Musk crashing the live broadcast (Ren@art, SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 11 launched on 13 October 2025. The test was a tremendous success, collecting all the data that it aimed at and demonstrating the viability of changes made to the ship to test for endurance in real flight.

Go to

Updates

14 October 2025: Starship after Flight Test 11.

Background

Starship Flight Test 11.
Launch broadcast and flight events.
Starship development.
The future of Starship tests.
Watch the launch broadcast.

References

UPDATE

Future of Starship
– 14 October 2025

SpaceX announced on their post-launch comment “Focus now turns to the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy, with multiple vehicles currently in active build and preparing for tests. This next iteration will be used for the first Starship orbital flights, operational payload missions, propellant transfer, and more as we iterate to a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle with service to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond”.

Michael Wall, Senior Space Writer at Space.com, quoted Elon Musk “Starship V3 will be capable of flying to Mars and may well do so next year, if testing continues to go well” (www.space.com, 2025)

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BACKGROUND

Starship Flight Test 11

Test 11 consisted of Block 2 Starship vehicle, which included Booster 15 and Ship 38.

Booster 15 had flown before in “Flight Test 8” and was refurbished with 24 flight-proven engines and tested. While Ship 38 was constructed for this purpose and underwent cryogenic tests that started in July. Static engine fire testing was completed in late September.

Successful static burn test of Booster (left) and Ship in September 2025 (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

Testing goals

• Booster: The booster aimed at demonstrating a unique landing burn using the three central engines and two from the inner ring to fine-tune the booster’s path, adding redundancy for unexpected engine shutdowns. To hover over the ocean the booster aims at using the three central engines.
• Load: The ship aimed at deploying 8 Starlink simulators (successfully demonstrated in flight 10). The simulators will follow the same re-entry path and get destroyed as they enter the atmosphere.
• Engines: As on previous tests, a raptor engine was re-lit in space.
• Flight: A banking manoeuvre was tested at subsonic speeds before Ship attempted a vertical landing on the Indian Ocean.
• Shell: To allow for metal expansion and contraction during flight, Starship’s hexagonal tiles have a small gap between them, which lets some of the plasma seep onto Starship’s walls. Test 11 had a modification to the heatshield using Crunch-Wrap, a pliable material called Vulcan Felt that wraps around the underside and free edges of each tile closing the gaps between them, therefore improving the shielding effect. Like in previous test flights, some tiles were removed to test specific zones for stress.

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Flight Test 11 - Launch

The launch event was hosted by Jake Berkowitz, Lead Propulsion Engineer, Amanda Lee, Build Reliability Engineer, Dan Huot, Communications, and Tyler Lionquist, Starlink Business Analyst, who presented sections on Starlink.

Flight Test 11. Hosts of live broadcast: Jake Berkowitz, Amanda Lee, Dan Huot and Tyler Lionquist (SpaceX, 2025).

Weather conditions were monitored closely at launch site and over the Indian Ocean. The mission had optimal weather for launch with clear cloudless skies.

An hour before launch, the propellent tanks are filled in the booster and the ship. The tanks need to be chilled to hold 5,000 Tons of Oxygen and Methane, the liquid propellants used by Starship.

Launch and ascent went exceptionally well, followed by stage separation. This was the last launch from Pad 1, a launch site that has part of historic flights for SpaceX. Future launches will be from the new and improved Pad 2 (see Future Plans below).

Flight Test 11: Launch and ascent from Boca Chica, Texas (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

Flight Test 11: Ship 38 ascending and looking down at launch pad (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

Stage separation burn and Hot Stage separated from the booster as both fall down towards the surface (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

The Super Heavy Booster directed its trajectory using the grid flaps towards a precise location on the Gulf of America, water-landing with now reliable precision. A new V configuration of engine activation was tested successfully for the landing burn.

Booster landing burn and splashdown on the Gulf of America (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

While in lower orbit, at around 21 minutes after launch, Ship opened its side door and deployed 8 satellite simulators in a slow but steady sequence that went without issues. This is an important test in preparation of the deployment of up to 60 satellites per flight, greatly increasing the capacity of the Starlink Network.

Satellite simulators released through Ship’s side port (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

The next event was the test of lighting up a raptor engine while in space. This is a crucial function that needs to be reliable to initiate de-orbit of future mission. All 3 tests carried out in various missions since Flight 6 were completed as expected.

Re-lighting of Raptor engine in the vacuum of space (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

Re-entry is the peak test of the structure of the ship travelling at 8km/sec as it plunges into the progressively denser atmosphere. Heat is generated by friction of air particles against the ceramic tiles that cover the underside of the ship, generating large amounts of energy in the form of plasma. Communications that normally break up, were maintained thanks to the Starlink satellite network, allowing direct view of the testing that included removal of tiles in crucial area to test full exposure of the stainless-steel hull to extreme temperatures.

Re-entry with creation of plasma. Once in the atmosphere, the ship prepared for landing with a flip from horizontal to vertical (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

Ship approached the Indian Ocean at the calculated location, and the landing burn went as expected splashing down in a vertical position, culminating a tremendously successful Flight Test 11. The crowds of technicians at SpaceX celebrated the achievement, a result of their hard work.

Ship’s landing burn and splashdown. SpaceX staff celebrating their achievement (SpaceX, 13 October 2025).

Watch the Starship’s descent and splash down in high definition (1m).

SpaceX Flight Test 11 descent, flip and water-landing on the Indian Ocean (The Launch Pad, 14 October 2025).

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Starship development

A comparison between Starship and the largest commercial airline, the Boeing 747 shows that the height of the booster alone is 5 metres short of the length of the airplane and when put together, the final height of Starship at 123metres is more than 150% taller than the Boeing 747. A single raptor engine produces double the thrust of all four engines and the total thrust of the booster with 33 engines reaches 17 million pounds of force that equals to the power of 64 Boeing 747s.

Comparison of Starship features with Boeing 747 (SpaceX, 2025).

While the booster or first stage has engines that run on liquid Methane and liquid Oxygen, the Starship upper or second stage has 6 engines, of which 3 are optimised for sea level performance and 3 for vacuum work. This stage is designed to eventually carry cargo, payloads and people to space and return.

Starlink simulators are a test version of the new V3 satellites that will increase the performance of the Starlink network to downlink capacity of 60 Tb/sec per launch and provide Gigabit connectivity to users, which is 20 times more than Falcon 9 launches achieve today. Although only 8 simulators are used for testing, when fully operational, Starship will hold and deploy up to 60 satellites per flight.

Starlink is the largest sub-orbital communications network in the world. It serves more than 150 countries with over 7 million customers.

Evolution in size and capacity of Starlink Satellites (SpaceX, 2025).

Between the stages there is a hot-stage steel ring which acts as a launch base for the second stage during ascent. This ring falls onto the ocean (Gulf of America) at very high speeds (about 30-50 km/sec) and is recovered by a team of divers and a boat. In the future it will be integrated into the top of the booster.

Hot Stage Ring located between the Booster and the Ship (SpaceX, 2025).

Recovery of hot stage from the Gulf of America (Starship Gazer, YouTube, 23oct2025).

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The future of Starship testing

• Launch pad: Launch pad 2 is being built with a new tower for future launches and catches. Located next to Pad 1 (built in 2019), Orbital Launch Pad 2 (OLP-2) has multiple key enhancements, including structural optimisation for future heavy-lift missions and to ensure quick turnaround between launches, which includes more sophisticated ground support systems. More facilities for static engine testing and checks, minimised environmental impact.

Launch Pad 2 is an improved launch platform built next to Pad 1 in Boca Chica, Texas (nasaspaceflight.com, 2025).

• Booster: The booster has a re-designed fuel transfer tube that runs in the centre of the body to allow better flip and simultaneous engine startup. The hot-stage ring will now be integrated onto the top of the booster, becoming fully re-usable, with enhanced ventilation to diverge heat away from the fuel tanks.
• Grid fins: Grid fins will be 50% larger and reduce from 4 to 3 and will be reinforced to be used for catching.
• Engines: A new version of engine, the Raptor 3 with simplified configuration providing more power and better gimble or steering.
• Tiles: Production of each tile takes about 40 hours at the Tile Bakery, which is is now fully automated and outputs 1,000 tiles a day. To cover the needs of future multiple daily flights, the bakery aims at producing 7,000 tiles daily.

Concept of docking adaptors connecting starships in the future (SpaceX, 2025).

• M & M: SpaceX is planning on reaching the moon with Starship carrying cargo by 2028 and two years later, land on Mars. SpaceX has secured the first customer, the Italian Space Agency, what will send experiments to Mars. More news about going to Mars available at www.spacex.com/humanspaceflight/ (link opens on a new tab or window).

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Launch broadcast – 13 October 2025

Watch the full launch broadcast on SpaceX’s Launches page (1h 43m).

Link to SpaceX’s Launches page to watch the broadcast of Flight Test 11 from 13 October 2025 (SpaceX, 2025). (Click the image to open the link in a new tab or window).

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REFERENCES

» SpaceX (2025) Posts. “X” [Online post updates]. Available at X.com. Accessed: 10 September 2025.
» SpaceX (2025) Mars and beyond [Online]. Available at X.com. Accessed: 17 October 2025.
» SpaceX (2025) Starship’s Eleventh Flight Test. SpaceX [Online article]. Available at SpaceX. Accessed: 30 August 2025.
» Starship Gazer (2024) Recovery of hot stage from the Gulf of America (23 October 2024). [Online video]. Available at YouTube. Accessed: 30 August 2025.
» Wall M (2025) Getting even bigger: What’s next for SpaceX’s Starship after Flight 11 success. Space.com [Online]. Available at Space.com. Accessed: 10 December 2025.
» Wikipedia (2025) Starship flight test 11. Wikipedia [Online article]. Available at Wikipedia. Accessed: 15 October 2025.

== END of SpaceX Starship Flight Test 11 – 13 October 2025 ==

SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 10 – 26 August 2025

Article cover: SpaceX’s Starship Flight Test 10 featuring deployment of Starlink satellites and an explosion in the engine compartment at 47min of flight (Ren@art, SpaceX, 26 August 2025).

SpaceX’s Starship test flight 10 launched on 26th August 2025 from Starbase in Texas, USA. The spacecraft reached orbit, released Starlink satellite dummies and returned to the surface performing a controlled vertical hover before a soft splash into the Indian ocean. Meanwhile, the Super Heavy booster tested an engine failure scenario and splashed vertically on the Gulf of Mexico.

Every major objective was met and the data obtained will inform upcoming generations of Starship. This success was welcomed by all teams who saw three consecutive Starship failures this year.

Go to

Updates

07 September 2025: Flight Test 11 in progress.
29 August 2025: Starship's Splashdown.

Background

Spaceship Flight Test 10.
Launch broadcast and events.
Elon's view of the future.
Starlink update.

References

UPDATES

Starship Flight Test 11 in progress
– 07 September 2025

Starship’s static engine fire test was a success at Starbase. This is part of the system test in preparation for Flight Test 11.

Meanwhile, the Booster system passed its 500th successful autonomous landing on a drone ship after the launch of another orbital flight, Falcon 9, that delivered a “Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture” satellite, part of the global military communications and missile tracking and warning project (SpaceX, X, 2025).

Starship performing a static engine fire in preparation for Flight Test 11 (SpaceX, X, 07 September 2025).

Falcon 9’s first stage booster landed on the “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship (SpaceX, X, 10 September 2025).

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SpaceX pictures of Starship – 29 August 2025

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared Starship splashdown photos on X.

Video and photos captured by a pre-placed buoy in the Indian Ocean show the amazing feat of engineering. Starship touched the ocean within 3 metres of the calculated location.

Watch the videos and images in SpaceX’s X post from 28 August 2025. Available at https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1961165064666312956 (Opens on a new tab).

Starship hovering over the Indian Ocean after a successful flip to vertical. (SpaceX, 2025).

Starship tilts to perform a soft splashdown on the Indian Ocean. (SpaceX, 2025).

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Booster catch video by the public – August 2025

A Booster Catch video was shared on YouTube Shorts. The amazing spectacle was captured by the public from outside Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Although this was part of Flight Test 8 (06 March 2025), it is an example of people’s response to an astonishing feat of engineering.

Booster catch, public perspective (@Backyardchickenfarmer, 10 September 2025).

END of UPDATES

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BACKGROUND

Starship Flight Test 10

Starship’s 10th flight test launched from Starbase launchpad in Bocachica, Texas, USA in the evening of 26 August 2025. The ship reached orbit and together with the booster returned safely to the surface splashing on the ocean. Lessons learned will shape a new generation of booster and perfect the ship that one day will take humans away from Earth.

Starship on the launchpad at Starbase, Bocachica, Texas, USA (SpaceX, 2025).

Flight preparation

Ship 37 underwent various modifications after the last 3 failures and underwent cryogenic testing in May 2025. It carried a new Raptor Vacuum engine, and all engines were tested days before the flight. On the launch pad, Ship 37 has a matt-black colour due to the heat shield that covers the underside of the vehicle.

Superheavy Booster 16 completed cryogenic testing in February and fire testing of its 33 engines in June. On the launch pad, Booster 16 is the shiny portion of the Spaceship made of stainless steel. Because this portion does not exit the atmosphere, it does not need a re-entry shield.

The Booster and the Ship’s main structures are made of a special alloy of stainless steel that is more resilient and resistant than aluminium, capable of withstanding the heat of the engines and re-entry. Stainless still is not painted because of the instability of paint to cryogenic testing and high levels of heat.

Once Starship was on the launch pad, 1hr 15min before launch, preparations for flight started when the Flight Director called to verify “go” for propellant load; Liquid methane and oxygen were loaded onto the ship while fuel and liquid oxygen were loaded onto the booster; The Raptor engines were chilled for 19 minutes before the Flight Director verified “go” for launch. Flame deflectors were activated at the last 10 seconds of countdown and Raptors ignited for Launch pushing Starship into the sky.

Flight plan

Max Q (peak aerodynamic stress on the rocket) was reached 1 minute into the ascent. Hot-staging and stage separation followed at 2 minutes, from then on the two vehicles followed different plans.

Booster performed a Boostback burn at 2min 48sec, the Hot-stage was jettisoned at 3min and 3 minutes later, Superheavy performed a Landing burn at 6min 20 seconds, just before water landing.

Booster flight sequence during Starship Flight Test 10, ending in a successful water landing (SpaceX, 2025).

After separation, Ship continued its route to lower orbit, shutting down its engines at 9 minutes. Payload deployment of dummy Starlink satellites started 18 minutes into the flight and at 37 minutes a Raptor engine was successfully re-lit in space. Ship re-entry started at 47 minutes and flight was under control at 1 hour. Landin flip took place at 1ht 6min, landing burn 20 seconds later and water landing 10 seconds after.

Ship flight sequence during Starship Flight Test 10, ending in a successful water landing (SpaceX, 2025).

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Launch broadcast and events

The Mission originally planned for late June, was ready to launch on 24th August, but it was delayed two days because of a leak and unfavourable weather.

Starship’s test 10 launch was broadcast by SpaceX hosted by Dan Huot, Communications team and Amanda Lee, Build reliability engineer.

Launch of Starship Flight Test 10 at 00.00.00 on 26 August 2025 (SpaceX, 2025).

Starship’s liftoff from Starbase launchpad. Flight Test 10 (SpaceX, 2025).

Ascent of Starship Flight Test 10. Bocachica, Texas, USA in the background (SpaceX, 2025).

33 Raptor engines alight during the ascent of Starship Flight Test 10 (SpaceX, 2025).

The 33 booster engines ignited at launch and during ascent, one of them shut down and did not relight. On its return to the surface, the booster an “Engine-out landing burn” scenario; one of the engines was intentionally disabled forcing the autonomous system to use the closest engine from the 10-engine inner ring as a backup. The test was successful, and the booster briefly hovered vertically over the ocean before cutting-off power and splashing down.

Superheavy Booster jettisoning the hot stage at the beginning of its descent (SpaceX, 2025).

Booster hovering over the Gulf of America at the end of landing boost, moments before splashdown (SpaceX, 2025).

Ship 37 tested the deployment of 8 Starlink simulators and performed the second in-space re-light of a Raptor engine while in orbit. During re-entry, at 90km of altitude (47min), an explosion occurred in the engine compartment damaging the Aft-Skirt although it didn’t seem to interfere with the performance of the engines. There was also visible damage of part of the flaps, which survived re-entry and remained functional, fully assisting the landing manoeuvres.

Starship in orbit. View of the extended right bottom flap (SpaceX, 2025).

Starlink deployment. Dummy satellites on the rack while one is being pushed out of Ship through a slit opening on the right side of the hull (arrow) (SpaceX, 2025).

SpaceX staff celebrate the completion of the Starlink deployment demonstration (SpaceX, 2025).

Raptor engine E3 successfully relights in the vacuum of space (SpaceX, 2025).

Explosion in the engine compartment, engines undamaged (following cover photo of this article) (SpaceX, 2025).

Damage aft edge of left bottom flap, seen during re-entry. Notice plasma coloration (SpaceX, 2025).

After the landing flip, the ship conducted landing burn to complete a controlled vertical landing, hovering over the ocean and slowly tipping into the water. Ship 37 was terminated with a calculated explosion to eliminate the need of recovery. Video of the landing captured by a pre-positioned buoy demonstrated that splash down occurred where it was planned.

Starship hovers, splashes down and explodes, ending Flight Test 10 (SpaceX, 2025).

SpaceX staff celebrating a successful Flight Test 10, Starbase (SpaceX, 2025).

A two-minute summary of Flight Test 10, a successful milestone in the development of the Starship programme. (SpaceX, YouTube, 29sep2025).

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Elon's view of the future

Elon Musk interviewed before Launch Test 10. Broadcast host Dan Huot (left) and Bill Riley commented about the test and the future (SpaceX, 2025).

Elon Musk, Chief engineer of SpaceX, and Bill Riley, Vice-President of Starship Engineering were interviewed before the launch. Elon commented that the reason to develop this technology is that the future of humanity is to become a multi-planetary species and to expand beyond Earth for two main reasons:

• To extend the long-term survival and prosperity of the species and its consciousness.
• To have and inspiring and exciting goal that give you a reason to live.

We will need to build thousands of ships per year to transport sufficient material to construct a self-sustaining city on Mars.

Starship entering the Martian atmosphere in the future 2025 (SpaceX, 2025).

The future of downloading material from Starships on Mars (SpaceX, 2025).

A test of endurance along the road will be when the Mars city becomes able of surviving even if the re-supply ships stop coming from Earth, be it following a cataclysm, the subsiding of civilisation or other reason. A conservative estimate is that building that city will take at least a million tons of processed material transported to Mars.

Building the first city on Mars (SpaceX, 2025).

Elon Musk commented on a future ship factory. Starship has to be a massively produced system featuring an efficient heatshield so that the spacecraft could be flown immediately after landing. Boosters will be reused within an hour of landing and the most efficient way of putting these gigantic parts together is if both, the booster and the ship land vertically and are captured by the tower’s arms. In this way, they can be re-assembled and ready to fly the same day. Currently, the booster comes back within 7 minutes and can already be refilled in less than the hour, therefore, SpaceX is getting there.

Future launchpads

Launch pad 37 in Florida, which supported Apollo lunar programme in the 1960s, will be upgraded to build two Starship launch pads for future missions, expecting up to 76 launches and 152 landings per year.

At Kennedy Space Centre, SpaceX is building “Gigabay”, the tallest rapid assembly and integration facility to date, capable of housing multiple Starships simultaneously.

At launch complex 39A, SpaceX is building infrastructure to support up to 44 launches and 88 landings a year. With the 2 complexes in Florida, SpaceX will have the ability to fly 130 starships per year in addition to flights from Starbase.

Location reference map of Kennedy Space Centre and launchpads 37 and 39A (highlighted), Florida, USA
(NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Bus Route, 2025).

Future view of refurbished Launch Pad 37 in Florida, USA, prepared for SpaceX’s vehicles (SpaceX, 2025).

Future of Gigabay a giant rocket assembly building at Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA (SpaceX, 2025).

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Starlink update

Tyler Lionquist, Starlink business analyst, explained that the Starlink satellite network is vital for communications with Starship. The spacecraft has 4 terminals for superfast transmission that ensures live broadcast of data and video even while she is re-entering the atmosphere, a period of crucial 7 minutes that previous crafts went through in radio silence

Satellites are built at Starlink’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, USA, from where the entire network is monitored.

Akash Badshah, Senior Director of Satellite Engineering, commented that 2 out 3 current satellites in orbit are Starlink satellites. There are over 8000 Starlink satellites in operation at present, connected using lasers for a low latency, high-speed data transfer. Each antenna is composed of many smaller antennas forming what is called a “Phased array antenna”.

Cornelia Rosu, Senior Director of Starlink Production, mentioned that manufacturing is slow, it takes months to build each satellite, and they are all tested for quality before packing and launch.

When Spaceship was in orbit, 8 Starlink simulators were released to demonstrate the feasibility of a controlled gate opening on the side of the ship and a robotic release of a stack of dummy satellites. Each Starlink that takes its position in orbit and connects to the network adds 60TB/sec of data transmission capacity.

Starlink factory and headquarters, Redmond, WA, USA. Staff and graphic from early 2020 (SpaceX, 2025).

Current Starlink receiver kit price ranges from £190 to £300 and service £50 to £75/month, roaming and residential respectively. Available at https://www.starlink.com/gb.

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REFERENCES

» SpaceX (2025) Posts. “X” [Online post updates]. Available at X.com. Accessed: 10 September 2025.
» SpaceX (2025) Starship’s Tenth Flight Test. SpaceX [Online article]. Available at SpaceX. Accessed: 30 August 2025.
» Wikipedia (2025) Starship flight test 10. Wikipedia [Online article]. Available at Wikipedia. Accessed: 28 August 2025.