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NASA says SLS Moon rocket is ‘go’ for launch debut
After rolling the vehicle to its Kenndy Space Center, Florida launch pad two days early for what is hoped to be the third and final time, NASA says that the first Space Launch System (SLS) Moon rocket is ready to take flight.
The Artemis I mission’s SLS reached Launch Complex 39B on August 17th after a 10-hour, 4-mile trip from KSC’s iconic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). NASA and its contractors spent the five subsequent days connecting the rocket to the pad and preparing both for flight – a process that will continue up until the moment the pad is cleared around a day or two prior to launch. On August 22nd, SLS and Orion program leaders completed a surprisingly clean Flight Readiness Review (FRR) for Artemis I, confirming that all related hardware, software, systems, and teams are (or will soon be) ready to launch.
Barring surprises, SLS remains on track to attempt its first launch and send an Orion spacecraft to the Moon no earlier than (NET) 8:33 am EDT (12:33 UTC) on Monday, August 29th.
Jim Free, Associate Administrator of NASA’s Exploration Systems Development division, reported that the SLS Artemis I FRR was completed with no exceptions, no additional actions required, and no dissenting opinions about the rocket’s readiness. Given just how rocky all aspects of SLS development have been, an almost perfectly clean review was not exactly expected, but it bodes well for a launch attempt during the first available window. Some work still needs to be completed, however, including at least one test that could not be completed during past test campaigns.
The rocket and pad’s behavior during two recent wet dress rehearsal (WDR) test campaigns in April and June also suggest that it could take NASA a few tries before SLS actually lifts off. There’s also a nonzero chance that minor to moderate problems could arise before liftoff, potentially requiring NASA to roll the rocket back to the VAB for a third time for repairs or longer-term troubleshooting. Thankfully, NASA officials were unusually candid in a post-FRR press conference and acknowledged many of those realities, noting that the first SLS launch could require multiple attempts.
Free even issued a statement on Twitter that almost directly acknowledged the possibility that Artemis I could end badly. While he avoided actually stating as much, the assistant administrator noted that “things may not go to plan” over the course of the mission. SLS will be the first rocket in history to attempt to send a payload to the Moon on its launch debut. Prior to attempting to enter orbit around the Moon and safely return to Earth, the Orion capsule will have only completed one suborbital test flight, and its propellant and propulsion section (service module) will have never flown.
With any luck, the rocket will make it through preflight operations without a major hitch and launch on the first try on August 29th. If not, NASA has backup opportunities on September 2nd and 5th. If all goes to plan, Artemis I will last approximately 42 days from liftoff to Orion capsule splashdown. The SLS rocket’s job will be complete around three hours after liftoff, leaving Orion to enter orbit around the Moon and eventually return to Earth.
Strangely, NASA is sending Orion to a lunar orbit different than the one the spacecraft will regularly visit with astronauts on operational missions, which are scheduled to begin with Artemis III as early as 2025. The Artemis I spacecraft also lacks a docking port and life support systems, and SLS will launch with an inert launch abort system (LAS), further weakening the test flight’s overall relevance for crewed missions.
No matter the outcome, NASA is poised to gather a massive amount of data about the performance of SLS and Orion over the course of Artemis I. In a best-case scenario, only minor tweaks will be required and Artemis II – a less complex crewed test flight including a free-return trip around the Moon – will remain on track to launch sometime in 2024.
Elon Musk
SpaceX just got the green light Starship has waited years for
The FAA has cleared Starship Flight 14, setting up SpaceX’s first orbital attempt on Monday.
SpaceX has cleared the last regulatory hurdle standing between Starship and its first trip to orbit. The Federal Aviation Administration issued the launch license for Starship Flight 14 late Saturday, keeping the mission on track for liftoff Monday, September 28, from Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas.
The 75 minute launch window opens at 7:15 a.m. Central, and Boca Chica Beach closures are also scheduled for September 29 and 30 as backup dates. This will be Starship’s first revenue generating mission.
The license was the missing piece after SpaceX completed a full wet dress rehearsal with Booster 21 and Ship 41 on September 24. At the time, the company said the flight remained on track pending regulatory approval. Because Flight 14 flies an orbital profile, the FAA had to sign off on a modified license that met its safety, payload and financial responsibility requirements.
Observers combing through the new FAA paperwork also noticed that lightning no longer appears among Starship’s listed launch hazards. If that holds, it matters more for where Starship is headed than for Monday’s attempt. Florida and Louisiana, home to LC-39A and the planned Starbase Louisiana site, see some of the most frequent lightning in the United States.
SpaceX tells the FCC that Starship Flight 14 is going to orbit
Flight 14 is the mission SpaceX has been building toward for months. Ship 41 will carry 26 Starlink V3 satellites, the first operational V3 units to be deployed, and attempt roughly six orbits at about 275 kilometers over a flight lasting just under 10 hours. SpaceX says the ship will only perform its orbital insertion burn after flight controllers confirm enough hardware redundancy remains for the deorbit burn at the end of the mission. Ship 41 is targeting a splashdown in the Pacific west of Chile, while Super Heavy will return to the Gulf of Mexico.
The date carries some symbolism as well. A Monday launch would come 10 years and one day after Elon Musk first presented the Interplanetary Transport System, the design that became Starship, at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara, Mexico.
SpaceX has not announced what comes next, but air traffic planning slides reported this week, list Flight 15 no earlier than October 19 and a first Starship launch from LC-39A in Florida no earlier than October 30. Both dates depend on how Monday goes.
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SpaceX completes another secret Pentagon launch, adding to suspected Starshield buildout
SpaceX launched the classified USSF-385 mission from Vandenberg, landing its booster on a tenth flight.
SpaceX launched another classified mission for the U.S. Space Force from California early Saturday morning, and the Falcon 9 booster that carried it landed on a drone ship in the Pacific for the tenth time. The USSF-385 mission lifted off from Space Launch Complex 4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:00 a.m. PT.
Booster B1100 touched down on Of Course I Still Love You roughly eight and a half minutes after liftoff. It was the booster’s tenth flight and tenth successful landing, following the NROL-95 national security mission and eight Starlink launches. Its previous flight, a Starlink Group 15 mission on August 22, came just 35 days earlier. SpaceX ended its livestream shortly after the landing, which is standard for classified payloads, and neither the company nor the Space Force has said what the rocket carried.
Watch Falcon 9 launch the USSF-385 mission from pad 4E in California https://t.co/CAdbx85Ydy
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 26, 2026
USSF-385 is the fourth Space Force launch from the same Vandenberg pad in roughly six weeks, following USSF-366 on August 15, USSF-153 on September 10, and USSF-259 on September 17. When SpaceX flew USSF-366 in August, independent trackers noted that the rocket’s stage drop zones matched SpaceX’s Starlink Group 15 missions, pointing to Starshield, the government version of the Starlink satellite bus. The Space Force later cataloged 23 satellites after both USSF-366 and USSF-153, while USSF-259 placed 17 satellites into a different orbital plane, per KeepTrack. Launch databases describe USSF-385 the same way, though the payload remains officially unidentified.
The cadence lines up with the contracts, because in July, the Space Force awarded SpaceX $1.6 billion in task orders for 18 Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg through the end of 2027. SpaceX also holds contracts to build pieces of that same network, which pushed its Pentagon contract total for 2026 past $8 billion.
Saturday’s flight was also the sixth and final Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg in September, according to Spaceflight Now, while only one Falcon 9 flew from the East Coast this month as SpaceX shifts its Florida infrastructure toward Starship. Launch trackers list it as SpaceX’s 112th mission of 2026 and the 108th Falcon 9 flight of the year, with SLC-4E turned around about six and a half days after its previous launch.
The West Coast pad will not stay quiet for long, considering SpaceX has another Starlink mission scheduled from SLC-4E on September 30. Meanwhile, in Texas, the company is two days away from Starship Flight 14, which is targeting Monday at 7:15 a.m. CT for the vehicle’s first attempt to reach orbit.
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Tesla hints at new Roadster design in surprise clip
Tesla ended its Semi event with a Roadster teaser revealing a new front light bar.
Tesla closed out its Semi event in Nevada on Thursday night with a nod to its own history, dropping a short Roadster teaser that suggests the production car will look noticeably different from the prototype first shown in 2017.
“We can’t have a Semi event without the Roadster,” Tesla engineering executive Lars Moravy told the crowd before the clip played. The line was a deliberate callback. Tesla first revealed the next generation Roadster in November 2017 by driving it out of the back of a Semi trailer at the truck’s original unveiling in Hawthorne, California.
The new video opens on trailer doors swinging apart in the dark. A thin white light bar glows across what appears to be the nose of the car, Tesla and SpaceX logos flash over the frame, and the Roadster name appears before the clip ends on “See you next week.” Tesla posted the nine second clip on X after the livestream wrapped.
See you next week pic.twitter.com/BT52bGVxFu
— Tesla (@Tesla) September 25, 2026
The light bar is the most concrete design detail so far. The 2017 prototype used two separate curved headlamp pods, while a connected front light strip would bring the Roadster in line with the Cybertruck, Cybercab, Semi, and refreshed Model Y. Sawyer Merritt was among the first to point out what looked like part of a SpaceX logo in the video, something Tesla has not addressed.
That logo fits the buildup around the optional SpaceX Package, which Elon Musk has long said would use cold gas thrusters to improve acceleration and possibly allow the car to briefly leave the ground. Tesla’s “Go for launch” post on September 12 set the October 1 date, and invitations sent to reservation holders place the event in Waco, Texas, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. Waco sits roughly 20 minutes from SpaceX’s McGregor rocket test site, where the FAA has put a temporary flight restriction in place from September 18 through October 2, covering a 1.5 nautical mile radius from the surface up to 10,000 feet.
Tesla is also taking money ahead of the reveal. The company reopened Roadster reservations earlier this week with a $5,000 refundable card payment, followed by a $45,000 wire transfer due within 10 days. That puts buyers at $50,000 committed before Tesla has published a price.
The original pitch set a high bar: 0 to 60 mph in 1.9 seconds before any upgrades, 620 miles of range, a top speed above 250 mph, and production in 2020. That timeline has slipped repeatedly, and Tesla has since pointed to production at Gigafactory Texas no earlier than 2027. The company has said next Thursday’s event will include pricing, specifications, and production targets, the three details original reservation holders have been waiting on for nearly nine years.
SpaceX just got the green light Starship has waited years for
SpaceX completes another secret Pentagon launch, adding to suspected Starshield buildout
