Starship has never reached orbit in 13 flights. SpaceX is targeting Sept 28 for Flight 14. Will it reach orbit by Oct 1?

SpaceX launched Starship on its 14th test flight on September 28, 2026, from Starbase, Texas, and the vehicle reached orbit for the first time, ending a streak of 13 consecutive flights that had failed to achieve orbital insertion. The rocket deployed 26 upgraded Starlink V3 satellites, marking the first time Starship delivered an operational payload to space. One of the ship's Raptor vacuum engines shut down prematurely during ascent, prompting SpaceX to shorten the mission; the vehicle still completed its stated objectives, cutting a planned roughly 10-hour orbital flight to about three hours before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX had been targeting September 28 after earlier schedule slips, and the company called the flight a success because it met its two primary goals: reaching orbit and deploying an operational satellite payload. The milestone followed more than a year of suborbital test flights, several of which ended in vehicle losses or incomplete objectives, as SpaceX iterated on the Starship and Super Heavy design. The prediction-market community badly misjudged this outcome: only 8 percent of forecasters predicted Starship would reach orbit by October 1, yet it did so three days before the deadline, making the "No" majority wrong by a wide margin.