The SpaceX Report: Roman Telescope Launches, Louisiana Starbase Unveiled, Crew-13 Delayed
Booster 21 Fires Up as Starship Flight 14 Nears
SpaceX completed a static fire test of Booster 21 on Friday, August 28, marking a key milestone ahead of Starship Flight 14. The Super Heavy booster ignited its Raptor engines at the Starbase launch site in Texas, then rolled back to Megabay 1 on Saturday for inspections and final pre-launch preparations.
Booster 21 had rolled out to the launch site on Monday, August 25, positioning it for the week’s testing campaign. The static fire validates the booster’s propulsion systems ahead of its next flight attempt.
In Starfactory, production continues on future Starship vehicles. Starship 45’s nose cone received heat shield tiles at the tiling station, with the vehicle expected to fly on Flight 18. Starship 44’s nose cone with forward flaps was stacked on the payload section inside the facility — that ship is slated for Flight 17.
Flight 14 will mark the 14th integrated test of the Starship system. All 13 previous flights since April 2023 have been suborbital, though orbital flights are expected soon. The near-term priority remains deploying Starlink V3 satellites.
SpaceX Plans $100 Billion Starbase in Louisiana
SpaceX announced plans to build a second Starbase on the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, located in Vermilion Parish. The company said it will spend “at least $100 billion” to construct what will become its largest launch facility.
Construction begins next year, with the first Starship launch possible as soon as 2029. All Starship launches to date have occurred from Starbase, Texas near Brownsville. SpaceX will soon begin lifting off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, but the Louisiana facility is designed to meet the company’s goal of launching thousands of Starships per year.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk confirmed that once Starship launches routinely, it will replace Falcon rockets. “Once Starship is flying reliably several times per week, it makes sense to shift super scarce SpaceX engineering and production resources to Starship to get launch rate to several times per day, which means winding down Falcon,” Musk posted on X.
The announcement represents the first major new U.S. space launch base of the modern era. Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Vandenberg Space Force Base, and Wallops Flight Facility have been the three major U.S. launch sites since the beginning of the Space Age.
SpaceX is offering neighbors in the Vermilion Parish area a 50% discount on Starlink Residential service plans as the company invests in the region.
Falcon Heavy Launches Roman Telescope, Booster Sets 37th Flight Record
A Falcon Heavy launched NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday, August 30. The telescope began its more than three-month journey to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, approximately one million miles from Earth — about four times farther than the Moon.
At L2, the combined gravity of the Sun and Earth will give Roman a stable vantage point with a clear, unobstructed view to survey deep space. The telescope will generate never-before-seen photos of the universe once it reaches its destination.
Falcon Heavy’s two side boosters landed at LZ-2 and LZ-40 following the launch. This was the first and third flight for the two side boosters, which previously supported the GOES-U and Viasat-3 F3 missions.
Earlier in the week, a Falcon 9 first stage set a new reuse record with its 37th flight. The booster lifted off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:33 a.m. EDT on Monday, August 25, carrying 29 Starlink satellites on the Starlink 10-49 mission.
The mission added to SpaceX’s low Earth orbit constellation of more than 11,000 satellites. It may have been the last Starlink flight from Cape Canaveral for a while — SpaceX Vice President of Launch Kiko Dontchev posted that the morning’s Starlink V2 launch was the last planned Falcon 9 Starlink mission from Florida. Future Starlink missions from Kennedy Space Center will fly on Starship.
So far this year, SpaceX has launched 44 out of 76 Starlink missions from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The company’s Cape Canaveral workforce has been refocused on Starship preparations.
Crew-13 Delayed, Starlink Expands to New Countries
NASA and SpaceX adjusted the launch date for the Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station after detecting an oxidizer leak on Dragon’s propulsion system during standard prelaunch spacecraft processing. Joint teams are performing additional tests and data review, with a new target date to be announced.
The four-person crew includes NASA astronauts Jessica Watkins, who will serve as spacecraft commander, and Luke Delaney, the pilot. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Joshua Kutryk and Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Teteryatnikov will serve as mission specialists. After arriving at the orbiting laboratory, Crew-13 will join Expedition 75.
The crew will launch aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Crew members entered quarantine about two weeks prior to the original flight date.
Starlink expanded its global coverage this week, launching service in Equatorial Guinea and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The company also announced Starlink Mobile is now available in Costa Rica through Liberty, enabling customers to send voice notes, share locations, and use maps in remote areas.
Starlink also offered support for Nepal and the Tibet border region following catastrophic floods, stating the service is ready to deploy kits and provide free service to support the Government of Nepal and humanitarian partners.
Citations
- “SpaceX Introduces New Louisiana Starbase” — https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/spacex-introduces-new-louisiana-starbase/
- “NASA, SpaceX set to launch the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope from Florida on Sunday” — https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2026/08/roman-telescope-launch/
- “Live coverage: SpaceX to launch Starlink mission on a Falcon booster’s record-breaking 37th flight” — https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/08/24/live-coverage-spacex-to-launch-starlink-mission-on-a-falcon-boosters-record-breaking-37th-flight/
- “NASA, SpaceX Adjust Crew-13 Launch Date” — https://www.nasa.gov/blogs/spacestation/2026/08/29/nasa-spacex-adjust-crew-13-launch-date/
Flight 14
Provider: SpaceX
Date: September 30, 2026
Time: 12:00 AM UTC
Vehicle: Starship
14th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. 3rd flight of Starship V3.
Griffin Mission One
Provider: SpaceX
Date: November 30, 2026
Time: 12:00 AM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon Heavy
Demonstration flight of the Astrobotic Griffin lander and its engines, initially contracted for the cancelled NASA VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) mission. The vacated payload spot will now host the FLIP (FLEX Lunar Innovation Platform) lunar rover from Astrolab.
USSF-75
Provider: SpaceX
Date: December 31, 2026
Time: 12:00 AM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon Heavy
Classified payload for the United States Space Force
SpaceX HLS LEO Demo
Provider: SpaceX
Date: June 30, 2027
Time: 12:00 AM UTC
Vehicle: Starship
The Starship HLS pathfinder spacecraft in support of NASA’s Artemis III mission in Low Earth Orbit will be a Version 3 vehicle equipped with a docking mechanism, but with no crew cabin or environmental control systems on board. This Starship HLS will launch after the Artemis III Orion has launched into LEO aboard SLS, and has completed its demonstrations with Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander. Once docked, Orion and Starship will spend about a day connected for checkouts and testing.
NROL-86
Provider: SpaceX
Date: June 30, 2027
Time: 12:00 AM UTC
Vehicle: Falcon Heavy
Classified payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office
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