Starship

Starship on Flight 10 opened its payload door and released eight Starlink mass simulators using the "Pez" dispenser, with those simulators burning up on reentry.

Flight 10 of Starship/Super Heavy lifted off at 7:30 p.m. EDT on August 26 from the Starbase, Texas test site after scrubs on August 24 and August 25.

The third 2025 Starship test flight completed ascent but lost attitude control in space, leading to an uncontrolled reentry over the Indian Ocean.

NASA does not have a firm launch target for the uncrewed Starship lunar landing demonstration, which is required before Artemis astronauts can be carried.

The recent failures of Starship have significantly slowed down NASA's progress toward putting humans on the Moon for Artemis III.

NASA selected Starship’s lunar variant for landing Artemis astronauts on the Moon in 2024.

NASA’s Acting Administrator Sean Duffy noted that SpaceX President and COO Gwynne Shotwell stated that Starship won’t be the holdup for Artemis III.

SpaceX had a largely successful integrated test flight of Starship, called IFT-10, on August 26.

The launch target for Artemis III has been pushed back due to earlier failures of Starship in 2023.

A baseline demonstration of in-orbit fuel transfer for Starship has been delayed by a year.

Lunar Starship requires a high launch cadence for sufficient in-orbit refueling.

The US is unlikely to meet its self-imposed goal of beating China to the Moon, given the number of milestones remaining for Starship.

Starship is considered more complex than any other system involved in either the Artemis program or China’s lunar architecture.

Starship successfully reached its intended orbit and deployed eight dummy Starlink satellites as its first payload demonstration.

SpaceX stated that 'all major objectives were achieved' during the test and gathered important data for the next generation of Starship and Super Heavy designs.

On August 26, 2025, SpaceX conducted a launch test of the Super Heavy rocket and the Starship spacecraft from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

The Super Heavy landed in the Gulf of Mexico while the Starship safely splashed down in the Indian Ocean.

Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) signed an agreement with SpaceX to send Italian payloads to Mars on the first Starship missions designed to transport commercial payloads to the planet.