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SpaceX schedules Starship’s first triple-Raptor static fire test
A photo posted by CEO Elon Musk confirms that SpaceX has successfully installed three functional Raptors on Starship SN8 just hours before road closure notices revealed the company’s first triple-engine static fire schedule.
Technically, it’s incorrect to say that Starship serial number 8 (SN8) is the first prototype to receive three Raptor engines. Back in late-September 2019, in the lead-up to Musk’s promised Starship update event, the company installed three Raptors on the first full-scale prototype, known as Starship Mk1. The engines were only installed as an apparent fit test or even a photo opportunity, however – evidenced by the fact that they weren’t actually plumbed to the Starship’s propellant tanks.
Even then, in September 2019, Starship Mk1 was far from ready to make use of Raptor engines and was more than a month away from attempting its first pressure and cryogenic proof tests – tests it quickly failed. As such, Starship SN8 – having more or less successfully passed its ‘cryo proof’ by October 9th – is undoubtedly the first ship to have a shot at igniting multiple Raptor engines at once.
Curiously, SpaceX remained quiet for several days after Starship SN8 passed its first big test. Whereas with past Starship prototypes SpaceX has often filed test plans (appearing in the form of road closures) even before the current phase of testing is complete, the company waited until Tuesday, October 14th to file closure notices for “SN8 static fire” testing.
Same as Starships SN4, SN5, and SN6, all of which successfully graduated from cryo proof to static fire testing (and even flight tests for the latter two), SpaceX began Starship SN8’s test campaign with a cryo proof. It took three days and at least as many attempts but SN8 ultimately “passed cryo proof” according to Elon Musk, likely meaning that the ship reached sustained pressures of 7.5 bar (~110 psi) or more.
Cryo proof complete, SpaceX installed Starship SN8’s engines – the first time multiple Raptors have been fully integrated with a rocket or test stand – in preparation for another Raptor first: multi-engine static fires. While modern computation fluid dynamics (CFD) and modeling mean that the great unknowns of rocket propulsion are rarely as opaque as they used to be, the first test of multiple powerful engines in close proximity is still a guaranteed recipe for surprises.
Thanks to expertise hard-won from nearly 100 Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, SpaceX is likely the world’s foremost expert in the challenges and dynamics of the proximity operation of more than two rocket engines. At the same time, though, Raptor is a dramatically different engine than Merlin 1D and while Starship will only have six engines at most, those six engines will produce thrust equivalent to almost two entire Falcon 9 boosters.
In other words, even with a (relatively) simple three-Raptor static fire, SpaceX will be treading new ground and will almost certainly end up learning one or several things about Raptor’s design and operation. More likely than not, SpaceX will begin Starship SN8’s static fire test campaign with a wet dress rehearsal (like a cryo proof but with real liquid methane and oxygen propellant) and transition into a Raptor spin prime (turbopump spin-up) or preburner test (a turbopump spin-up but with partial combustion) if the WDR goes smoothly. If all three Raptor engines appear healthy, SpaceX may recycle and attempt the first static fire just an hour or two later.
Starship SN8’s triple-Raptor static fire test window opened at 9pm CDT on October 14th and closes at 6am on the 15th, with an identical 9pm-6am backup on the 15th and another window from 8am to 4:30pm on the 16th. LabPadre (below) will continue to offer 24/7 views of Starship, including any static fire testing, while NASASpaceflight.com will likely provide live coverage once testing begins in earnest.
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SpaceX just picked up another $1.6 billion from the Pentagon, with the U.S. Space Force awarding two task orders worth $1.6 billion to fly 18 Falcon 9 missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California through the end of 2027. The launches will carry satellites for the Space Based Sensing and Targeting portfolio, a set of programs meant to help the military detect and track airborne threats and relay that information across forces in near real time.
The award falls under National Security Space Launch Phase 3 Lane 1, the Space Force’s faster, commercial style procurement track for missions that do not require the military’s most demanding certification process. It is also the largest single order publicly disclosed under that program so far, and the first task order issued since the Space Force nearly tripled Lane 1’s contract ceiling from $5.6 billion to $17 billion on July 17.
SpaceX to become America’s Military data backbone for missiles, drones, and warfighters
Eric Zarybnisky, the Space Force’s acting portfolio acquisition executive for space access, said the entire process, from identifying the requirement to signing the contract, took about two months, including a month set aside for companies to prepare proposals.
SpaceX is not just launching these satellites. It already holds the contracts to build two of the programs within the same portfolio, $4.16 billion for the Space Based Airborne Moving Target Indicator system and $2.29 billion for the Space Data Network Backbone, which Teslarati covered in May. That means SpaceX is now responsible for both building key pieces of the military’s next generation sensing network and getting them into orbit.
With this latest award, SpaceX’s Pentagon contract total for 2026 alone tops $8 billion, adding to a defense portfolio that already includes the Golden Dome missile defense software group SpaceX joined in April and a string of GPS launches it inherited after ULA’s Vulcan rocket ran into a booster anomaly, which we detailed in March.
Lane 1’s vendor pool technically includes seven companies: SpaceX, ULA, Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, Stoke Space, Impulse Space, and Relativity Space. In practice, SpaceX remains the only provider with the combination of launch cadence, flight proven Falcon 9 hardware, and West Coast infrastructure to support a campaign requiring roughly one Vandenberg launch a month for the next year and a half.
Some lawmakers have flagged the growing concentration of national security launches with one company as a risk worth watching. For now, the Space Force keeps backing SpaceX, with it being the company that shows up ready to launch.
Elon Musk shed two new bits of detail on Starship following its 13th test launch, which was an overwhelming success.
SpaceX launched Starship for the 13th time last Friday after two delays: one on Monday when several Raptor engines did not ignite, and another on Thursday due to unfavorable weather conditions in Starbase, Texas.
The launch was overwhelmingly successful. SpaceX was able to complete a necessary test of the heat shield tiles by increasing the acceleration of Starship from launch throughout the flight; 20 Starlink v3 satellites were released with no issue; the Super Heavy Booster landed safely in the Gulf of America, Ship successfully reignited engines while in space; and it also splashed down without incident in the Indian Ocean.
SpaceX Starship just nailed something it’s never done before
Nevertheless, more details are coming out about Starship, and Musk is doing the talking.
Starship Will Be Retrieved in the Ocean
Musk revealed on Tuesday night that Starship would be recovered by a ship in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX routinely tries to recover Starship after splashdown in an effort to find out more about the flight by examining the spacecraft afterward.
We’re sending a ship out to recover Starship https://t.co/fUqUZTITO9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 28, 2026
This helps engineers find out more about why things might have happened, allows them to examine any potential damage or anomalies that might have occurred, and increases the chances of an even more successful flight next time thanks to the additional information recovered.
Ship Could Have Been Caught by Tower Arms, Musk claims
Musk has already indicated that SpaceX will plan to attempt a catch of Starship with the 14th test flight. While this would be a major accomplishment, it would be an expected next step, considering the fact that the Super Heavy Booster has already been caught by the chopsticks on numerous occasions.
The ship landing was precise, meaning that it would have been caught by the tower arms https://t.co/6nbNrRfX9P
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
A ship catch would be a great indication of where SpaceX stands in terms of reusability and launch cadence. A successful catch with relatively no incidents would be a good sign that SpaceX is nearing a more frequent launch of Starship, but also that the reusability of the massive rocket would be something many would expect in the near future.
It is a necessity to make life multiplanetary.
Elon Musk has updated his timeline for when humans will walk on Mars and for when ships will simply get there.
The objective of getting to Mars has been one of Musk’s biggest goals since becoming a serial entrepreneur and realizing that time on Earth is limited. Musk has said several times he hopes to die on Mars, and not by impact.
Musk now believes that people will be on Mars in “roughly 5 to 7 years.” He said that a Mars lander will get there “a few years sooner.”
People on Mars in roughly 5 to 7 years.
Mars lander a few years sooner.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 29, 2026
The response from Musk comes after NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that SpaceX’s biggest priority is the Moon and not Mars. Because of this, Isaacman conceded that he believes nuclear power and propulsion investments will provide “potentially the pathway with the fewest miracles required to put four people on Mars in the next 10 to 15 years.”
Of course, this is what NASA can do through taxpayer funding and nuclear investments, he added.
Musk’s grand ambitions are much more optimistic than most, and it is certainly a double-edged sword. This is not the first time timelines for Mars have been somewhat lofty, especially to those normal thinkers like you and me, not super geniuses like Musk.
In fact, the SpaceX and Tesla frontman has said on at least a dozen occasions that we could be on Mars in the coming years. Musk said 2020 would be the big year as early as 2009. In 2020, he was “highly confident” of a landing in 2026, and had even said 2024 in a best-case scenario.
The point is, the range has varied, and it’s anyone’s guess when we’ll get there. This latest adjustment to the timeline is typical of Musk, and while the Moon has seemingly taken priority over Mars, it is still worth mentioning that the ultimate goal is to make life multiplanetary, and it starts potentially with the Red Planet.
SpaceX scores another massive Pentagon deal to support military satellites
Elon Musk sheds two new bits of detail on Starship after 13th test launch
