Elon Musk sets bold new goal as SpaceX prepares for Starship Flight 14 orbital mission

SpaceX is set to achieve a new milestone by first-ever orbital launch of Starship Flight 14 on Monday.

At this moment, SpaceX confirmed that the Super Heavy rocket booster and Starship spacecraft are now being filled up for flight. Teams will soon begin loading Starship with ~12 million pounds of liquid oxygen and liquid methane.

This load-up onto the vehicles will be complete in less than an hour, reportedly faster than Falcon 9. Responding to a post about how Starship's recent fueling was reportedly faster than that of a Falcon 9, Elon Musk set a new bold goal for Starship.

Musk wrote, “Starship is 2 to 3 years away from hourly flights.” In August, the 54-year-old also announced that the company would target 30 Starship launches per day by 2030. SpaceX is planning to construct a massive, $100 billion spaceport in Louisiana, serving as a site for its huge Starship rocket launches thousands of times per year.

Musk’s response comes as SpaceX is preparing for Starship Flight 14 orbital launch. SpaceX is set to launch Starship from Starbase, Texas, during a 75-minute window starting at 8:15 a.m. ET (7:15 a.m. CT).

According to SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot, “Weather is gorgeous,” noting there are some clouds, but they’re “not going to be an issue throughout the count.”

“This is the most complex range operation we’ve ever had to do with Starship,”, referring to the weather and safety analysis, called the “range.” “But things are looking good right now.”

The 10-hour mission will feature six orbits around Earth and the deployment of 26 satellites. SpaceX has begun live broadcasting of the launch.

It is also reported that during the mission, SpaceX will not attempt to capture the Super Heavy booster or the Starship upper stage with mechazilla arms for this mission.

The spacecraft is targeted to spend roughly 10 hours in space completing about 6 orbits of Earth at an altitude of approximately 275 km before initiating a controlled deorbit burn and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.