SpaceX is gearing up for the eleventh test flight of its Starship rocket, potentially set for early October. A Local Notice to Mariners (LNM) indicates that Flight 11 could launch no earlier than October 6 at 6:15 p.m. CT. This preliminary filing signals that preparations are underway, though dates for Starship tests often shift based on hardware readiness, regulatory approval, and weather conditions.
The LNM comes just after SpaceX confirmed on Monday that Starship had completed a full-duration static fire test, a key milestone ahead of liftoff. If the timeline holds, this will be the next step following Starship’s successful 10th test flight in late August, where the company demonstrated its first Pez dispenser-like Starlink satellite deployment system in orbit.
Flight 11 is expected to fly with SpaceX’s current Starship hardware. The company plans to debut its next-generation Starship V3 prototype later this year. Elon Musk has said that Starship V3 will kick off “heavy flight activity” in 2026, enabling in-orbit refueling and potentially attempting SpaceX’s first-ever “catch” of a returning upper stage.
Looking even further ahead, Musk recently suggested that SpaceX could be responsible for launching more than 95% of Earth’s payload to orbit starting in 2026 once Starship is fully operational.
Starship is central to SpaceX’s long-term goals of building a fully reusable rocket system, lowering the cost of space access, and supporting human exploration of the Moon and Mars. Each test flight has pushed the program closer to those ambitions.
While October 6 is the current target for Flight 11, SpaceX is known for making adjustments as needed, so space enthusiasts should keep an eye out for schedule updates in the coming weeks.