Watch SpaceX’s cinematic preview of 11th Starship rocket flight

    By Trevor Mogg
Published September 29, 2025

SpaceX is targeting Monday, October 13, for the 11th flight test of its next-generation Starship rocket.

The 123-meter-tall vehicle — the world’s largest — will lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase site near Boca Chica in southern Texas in the evening, with both the upper-stage Ship spacecraft and first-stage Super Heavy booster aiming for soft, controlled landings on water in a repeat of the 10th flight test, which took place in August.

Along with the announcement of the 11th flight, SpaceX released a cinematic preview of the upcoming mission. You can watch it below:

Starship’s tenth flight test took a significant step forward in developing the world’s first fully reusable launch vehicle.Next up: Flight 11 of Starship is targeted to launch as early as Monday, October 13 → https://t.co/YmvmGZUsXW pic.twitter.com/bspqrP9aRj

Set to dramatic music and featuring crystal clear imagery, the preview shows key moments from the Starship’s 10th flight test, including the rocket launch, stage separation, Super Heavy water landing, dummy Starlink satellite deployment, and the Ship’s landing in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX is planning pretty much a repeat of the 10th flight, which was deemed a success and provided engineers with plenty of data to help improve the design of the massive rocket.

It means that the 11th flight won’t bring the booster back to the launch site, a spectacular maneuver than involves the rocket coming to rest in giant mechanical arms attached to the launch tower. SpaceX has already achieved the feat several times, but it’s not clear when it will try it again.

Both the first and upper stage of the Starship are reusable, enabling SpaceX to reduce running costs. Indeed, the Super Heavy booster flying in the 11th flight first launched in the eighth Starship test in March 2025. Also, 24 of the booster’s 33 Raptor engines have been used before.

The long-term goal is to use the Starship for crew and cargo flights to the moon, where NASA wants to build a base for long-term stays similar to how astronauts currently live and work in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station.

The rocket could even be used to fly the first humans to Mars in a mission that could take place in the 2030s at the earliest.

Related Posts

Key moment approaches for NASA’s crewed moon mission

Now firmly in place at Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the rocket will be put through a so-called “wet dress rehearsal” this weekend.

NASA shares thrilling sneak peek at humanity’s imminent return to the moon

NASA has just released a cinematic trailer for the highly anticipated mission. You can watch it via the player embedded at the top of this page.

Mars has never looked so serene in this gorgeous image from a NASA rover

Over the years, the rover has also been beaming back striking images of its surroundings, including the stunner at the top of this page captured toward the end of last year.