spaceflight

SpaceX conducted the fourteenth test flight of its Starship system, launching the vehicle and returning the Super Heavy booster for a splashdown. Coverage of the launch and booster descent drew large live audiences, with spaceflight commentators tracking the vehicle's performance during ascent and the booster's controlled descent over the ocean.

The next crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft will not take place until 2028, according to a new report. The long gap underscores ongoing setbacks for the program, which has struggled with technical problems since its first astronaut mission. The news is drawing attention among space observers tracking how Boeing's crewed spaceflight plans fit with NASA's schedules and commercial crew operations.

SpaceX's Starship completed a full-duration test flight of roughly three hours, returning through the atmosphere and splashing down in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii. The flight marks another step in the rocket's development campaign, with observers tracking how the vehicle handled reentry and recovery. SpaceX has not detailed the outcome of every test objective, but the splashdown confirms the ship survived to its planned end point.

NewsNation's 'Reality Check' segment takes up the question of whether the United States runs a 'real' secret space program, weighing claims of classified spaceflight activity against official accounts. The piece joins ongoing public debate over hidden government space capabilities, fueled by whistleblower testimony and congressional hearings on unidentified phenomena.

A tech news headline compares SpaceX's Starship to Star Trek's fictional Enterprise, claiming the real spacecraft has now travelled farther than the fictional starship ever depicted. Details beyond the headline are limited, but the comparison has caught attention among spaceflight fans and science fiction enthusiasts alike.

SpaceX briefly overtook Amazon and Microsoft in market capitalisation following its stock market debut, a milestone for Elon Musk's rocket and satellite company. Financial commentators are now debating whether the company can sustain a valuation above the tech giants, with skeptics pointing to its reliance on Starlink revenue and capital-intensive launch operations, while supporters cite its dominance in commercial spaceflight and growing satellite internet subscriber base.

Spaceflight journalist Ars Technica reports that NASA is grappling with a 'Dragon dilemma' — a problem involving SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft — and, per the report, there appear to be no good answers to it. Details beyond the headline are not available, but the story concerns NASA's reliance on Dragon and the difficult choices it now faces.

Canadian astronaut Joshua Kutryk, whose great-grandfather emigrated from western Ukraine to Canada in 1910, is set to make his first spaceflight on October 1 aboard the SpaceX Crew-13 mission to the International Space Station. His crew includes a Russian cosmonaut, drawing attention given the ongoing war in Ukraine and continued US-Russia cooperation in space.

NASA has published issue number 1,218 of its Spaceline Current Awareness List, dated 25 September 2026, compiling recent results in space life science research. The regular digest gathers new findings on how living systems respond to spaceflight, a resource used by researchers studying astronaut health and biology in orbit.

NASA is reportedly confronting a difficult decision regarding SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, the vehicle currently responsible for carrying NASA astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station. Ars Technica reports that the agency has a dilemma for which there appear to be no good answers, highlighting a potential problem in NASA's near-term human spaceflight plans.

SpaceX has conducted another rocket launch, drawing attention from space watchers worldwide. Details of the payload, launch site and timing were not immediately available, but the launch continues the company's rapid cadence of flights and keeps fueling discussion about its role in commercial spaceflight and satellite deployment.

SpaceX's Starship has achieved orbit, a milestone in the development of the company's next-generation heavy-lift rocket. Attention now turns to the tougher challenges ahead, including proving the vehicle can reenter, land and be reused reliably, which are key to its future missions.

Space at Smith's Jon Crocker has given a Q&A on the significance of SpaceX's Starship orbital debut, explaining what a first orbital flight of the giant rocket would mean for spaceflight. The interview breaks down the technical milestones Starship must hit and why the debut matters for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

NASA is stepping up support for Boeing's Starliner astronaut capsule as the company works to return the spacecraft to flight. The Starliner suffered so many problems during its 2024 test flight that its two pilots, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, were left stranded aboard the International Space Station for nearly a year, with NASA eventually bringing them home on a SpaceX capsule. The push to fix the troubled capsule has drawn renewed attention to Boeing's struggles in its commercial crew programme.