Starship Flight 14 Launch Date just Changed Again, No Launch This Week! The Real Reason is…

We've got some top space news you shouldn't miss on today's episode. Starship Flight 14 has been delayed yet again and this time the reason may be harder to predict than ever. Even the launch window has changed, with Flight 14 no longer targeting an afternoon liftoff. Meanwhile, Musk has revealed some interesting new details about Starship. Rocket Lab is pushing back against NASA's decision to award a $700 million Mars contract to Blue Origin and SpaceX has just reached another major milestone with Falcon 9. So, can you stick around until the end? Because if there's one thing we've learned from following SpaceX, it's that patience is basically part of the job description. Starship can surprise us at any moment, but it can also test the limits of everyone's patience. And after the two delays we've already covered in previous episodes, we now have another one. According to a new update on the Starship launch operation, the primary target for Flight 14 has now moved to the 22nd of September, with September 23rd listed as the backup date. That's another 4 day shift from the previously targeted September 18th launch. And when you look at the bigger picture, Flight 14 is now approaching a 2 month gap from Flight 13, which launched on July 24th. That's a surprisingly long wait considering how much progress Flight 13 demonstrated. So what's causing all of these delays? We already know how important Flight 14 is. This is expected to be Starship's first true orbital mission, along with its first attempt to deploy long duration operational payloads into orbit. If everything goes according to plan, the mission could validate some of Starship's most important technical capabilities and open the door to the next phase of the program. But perhaps the constant delays are telling us something. At this point, I suspect there could be an issue somewhere in the launch system. However, I'm less convinced that the problem is with the vehicles themselves. If B-21 or S-41 had a major hardware issue, we'd normally expect to see these vehicles rolled out for additional testing or inspection. Instead, they have remained largely stationary inside the base. That makes me look somewhere else. The launch pad. Over the past several days, SpaceX has been putting major pieces of the launch infrastructure through a series of tests. The chopsticks have been moving, both the ship and booster QDs have been operating and tested, and SpaceX has also been conducting work around the flame trench and other launch infrastructure. Most interestingly, the tower recently went through what appeared to be a simulated catching operation. I'll take a closer look at that test in a later episode. But shortly afterwards, something unusual happened. Around the afternoon of September 14th, after several maneuvers, SpaceX crews unexpectedly removed the actuators from the chopsticks. These actuators are critical components of the mechanism that opens and closes the giant arms. That makes them important not only for stacking Starship, but also for the catching operations SpaceX ultimately wants to perform. So, why were they removed? One possibility is that something was discovered during recent high-pressure testing involving S-42. My suspicion is that an actuator may have experienced a problem during that operation, requiring it to be removed for inspection or repair. But to be clear, that's still speculation. SpaceX has not publicly confirmed that an actuator problem is responsible for the flight 14 delay. It could turn out to be something completely different. Hopefully, whatever was discovered can be resolved quickly, and the actuators can be reinstalled without creating another major scheduled problem. Because at this stage, SpaceX isn't just preparing a rocket, it's preparing an enormous integrated system. The vehicles have to be ready. The launch infrastructure has to be ready. The software has to be ready. And of course, the teams responsible for operating all of it have to be ready for one of the most demanding Starship missions yet. That's where the balance becomes extremely important. SpaceX wants to move quickly, but rushing through a problem at this point could create an even bigger delay later. Now, let's get back to the launch schedule. Because the date isn't the only thing that has changed. The launch time has also moved. And this is something you'll definitely want to keep in mind. Unlike several recent Starship flights, Flight 14 is no longer targeting an afternoon launch. Instead, the current window is expected to run from approximately 7.15 to 9.14 AM on launch day. So why the sudden change? Well, previous Starship missions were often scheduled for the afternoon in Texas. That timing offered a useful advantage. It allowed SpaceX to observe the booster and ship during their respective return phases while maintaining favorable daylight conditions across the mission profile. But Flight 14 could be different. This time, the ship is expected to actually reach orbit. That means it could spend several hours traveling around Earth before beginning its return journey. And that changes the equation completely. According to FAA documentation, the landing area could also shift away from the Indian Ocean and potentially toward the Pacific. If that's the case, the time difference becomes much smaller. The Pacific landing region could be only a few hours behind Texas, depending on the exact location and mission trajectory. That means an early morning launch from Starbase could provide much better daylight conditions for observing the later stages of the mission. Flight 14 could involve launch, orbital operations, payload deployment, reentry, and two separate vehicle landing attempts across widely separated regions of the planet. And that's a lot to coordinate. So if you're used to watching Starship launch in the afternoon, take note. Flight 14 could require an early start. And if you're planning to follow the launch from Starbase, you might want to rethink that morning alarm. Next, let's look at some new revelations about Starship from Elon Musk. His comments came during a call with the All In Summit, and I'll only touch on them briefly here because we'll dive deeper into the most important ones later. First, Musk said that if Flight 14 goes smoothly, SpaceX will attempt to catch ship on Flight 15. That's significant because it confirms what we've been seeing in recent testing, particularly the S42 Chopsticks test. He also estimated that Flight 15 could have a success rate of around 50-60%. That's a surprisingly candid assessment considering how ambitious the mission could be. Musk also discussed plans to refly both Starship and Super Heavy potentially later this year or more realistically early next year. SpaceX has already reused Super Heavy, but doing so with both stages would represent another major step toward full Starship reusability. And according to Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX also plans to launch AI computing satellites next year. Falcon 9 could handle some of those missions initially, but the long-term goal is to gradually shift that workload toward Starship. Which of these developments interests you the most? Let me know in the comments because we'll be taking a closer look at them in another video. Now, let's move on to another major development in the launch industry. Rocket Lab has directly challenged Blue Origin over a major NASA contract. Earlier this month, NASA awarded Blue Origin a $700 million contract to develop the Mars Telecommunications Network, or MTN for short. Rocket Lab has now formally protested that decision with the Government Accountability Office, or GAO. Rocket Lab wrote on X, NASA's award decision appears to be inconsistent with the eligibility criteria mandated by Congress. In addition, the agency's punitive review of Rocket Lab's technical volume was inconsistent, making incorrect assertions and conclusions. The company added, Procurement standards exist to ensure fair competition and protect public investment. We are pursuing this review to ensure those standards are upheld for critical infrastructure that will underpin American exploration at Mars for decades to come. MTN will provide a communications relay between Earth and spacecraft operating around Mars. That's becoming increasingly important because NASA currently relies on two aging orbiters for much of that relay capability. Mars Odyssey, launched in 2001, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in 2005. NASA has been pursuing a replacement for years and received $700 million in congressional funding in July of last year. After issuing its request for proposals this May, the agency selected Blue Origin over competitors including Rocket Lab. Under the contract, Blue Origin must deliver MTN to NASA no later than December 31, 2028, with the spacecraft expected to become operational around Mars by 2030. The dispute is particularly interesting because it puts two increasingly important private space companies directly against each other, and it echoes an earlier battle involving Blue Origin itself. In 2021, Bezos' company protested NASA's decision to award SpaceX the agency's first crewed lunar lander contract. Now, Rocket Lab is taking a similar route against Blue Origin. Whether the protest changes NASA's decision remains to be seen. And now, let's talk about a major milestone for Falcon, the current ruler of the aerospace industry. At 2.49pm EDT on September 13, a Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, carrying the final three satellites for SES's O3BM Power constellation. But this wasn't just another Falcon 9 launch. It marked the 700th mission for SpaceX's Falcon rocket family, a milestone SpaceX highlighted on X. Musk also said, 700 Falcon flights completed. Congrats to the SpaceX Falcon team. The Falcon family first took flight in March of 2006 with Falcon 1. That rocket launched five times, succeeding twice, before Falcon 9 took over in 2010. Since then, Falcon 9 has performed the overwhelming majority of the family's missions, while Falcon Heavy has launched 13 times to date. And the latest launch showed exactly why Falcon 9 has become SpaceX's workhorse. Less than nine minutes after liftoff, the first stage returned to Earth and landed on the drone ship, a shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. The booster B1080 was completing its 29th flight. Meanwhile, the upper stage continued toward medium Earth orbit, where it deployed the three O3BM Power satellites as planned. The satellites were released at an altitude of about 5,000 miles or 8,000 kilometers over a 14-minute period, beginning roughly 33.5 minutes after liftoff. SES already operates 10 O3BM Power satellites in MEO, and these three complete the constellation. The company describes the system as, purpose-built to deliver predictable low-latency exceptional throughput and unprecedented flexibility for industries where uptime isn't optional," SES wrote. They also added, "...it transforms how networks operate by pairing advanced software-defined satellites with an intelligent ground and software ecosystem, ensuring guaranteed performance even as global bandwidth demands surge." The Boeing-built satellites weigh about 3,750 pounds or 1,700 kilograms each. SpaceX has now launched every O3BM Power satellite on six Falcon 9 missions beginning in December of 2022, and the pace is just as impressive. This was SpaceX's 107th orbital mission of the year. Falcon 9 accounted for 105 of those launches, with Falcon Heavy performing the other two. While much of the aerospace industry is still dealing with delays, competition, and major technical challenges, Falcon continues to demonstrate an extraordinary level of consistency. In any case, folks, thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next one.