SpaceX’s tenth Starship flight test lifts off Sunday, August 24

Here’s what’s launching from August 18 to August 24: A USSF mission carrying a robotic spaceplane, a Russian biosatellite, a NASA/SpaceX cargo run to the ISS, and multiple Starlink deployments.

With the future of NASA’s Artemis moon missions riding on its success, SpaceX is targeting this Sunday, August 24, for the tenth flight test of its Super Heavy Starship vehicle. Liftoff from the company’s Starbase facility in Texas is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EDT.

This flight is a critical step for SpaceX, which is under contract with NASA to provide a version of Starship as the human landing system for the Artemis 3 mission, slated to return astronauts to the lunar surface. However, a string of failures in previous Starship tests has cast a shadow on that timeline.

Most recently, on Flight 9 in May, while the Starship upper stage reached orbit for the first time in 2025, it failed to relight one of its Raptor engines, spiraled out of control, and was ultimately lost. The Super Heavy booster also exploded during its landing attempt. Earlier, in January, Flight 7 ended in a dramatic mid-air explosion over the Atlantic, attributed to a fuel leak that sparked a fire. These setbacks underscore the immense challenge of developing a fully reusable launch system.

Mission Highlights: Axiom 4 Delayed

The launch of Axiom Mission 4 (Ax-4) has been postponed for a second time. This delay stems from a pressure leak in the Russian Zvezda service module aboard the International Space Station (ISS), following previous weather-related issues and a liquid oxygen leak in the Falcon 9 rocket. As of June 12, NASA reported that the repaired section of the Zvezda module is holding pressure, and the delay will give teams time to determine whether further troubleshooting is necessary. This latest hurdle underscores the complexities of coordinating international missions and maintaining the infrastructure of the ISS. NASA and Axiom have yet to declare a new launch date for the Ax-4 mission. NASA stated that a new launch date “will be provided once available.”

NS-33: Blue Origin Set for 13th Crewed New Shepard Flight

On June 21, 2025, Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle is scheduled to launch at 8:30 a.m. EDT from Launch Site One near Van Horn, Texas. This will be the program’s 33rd overall mission and the 13th crewed flight. The NS-33 crew includes six civilian passengers from diverse backgrounds: environmental advocates Allie and Carl Kuehner, former transportation executive and philanthropist Leland Larson, entrepreneur and amateur archaeologist Freddie Rescigno, Jr., attorney and author Owolabi Salis, and retired employment lawyer Jim Sitkin. While the mission is suborbital, offering only a few minutes of weightlessness, it highlights the range of individuals now participating in commercial spaceflight and the diverse array of personal motivations — from environmental advocacy to lifelong dreams of space travel — that draw people to the edge of space.