Elon Musk Says 'First Starship Launch to Orbit' Will Carry Starlink V3 Satellites in 7 Days

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (NASDAQ:SPCX) CEO Elon Musk said Monday that SpaceX will deploy operational Starlink V3 satellites aboard Starship’s first orbital flight, now targeted for Sept. 28. First Starship Launch to Orbit On Monday, Musk quoted a post by SpaceX on the social media platform X that showcased a booster stage of the Starship being moved to the Starbase, Texas, launchpad. “In 7 days, the first Starship launch to orbit will be carrying Starlink V3 satellites intended for operational use,” Musk said. In 7 days, the first Starship launch to orbit will be carrying Starlink V3 satellites intended for operational use https://t.co/bx24B1nz9x— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 21, 2026 Read Also: SpaceX, Tesla Share Chips, Robots And Compute; Morgan Stanley Calls It A 'Shared Mission' To Turn Energy Into Intelligence: Merger Next? SpaceX had earlier intended to conduct Starship’s maiden orbital launch on Tuesday, September 22, but the company confirmed on X last week that it would be targeting a September 28 launch date for the Starship Flight 14, pending regulatory approval. The company did not provide any further details. Now targeting to launch Starship Flight 14 as early as Monday, September 28, pending regulatory approval https://t.co/3nG9wffG6A— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 17, 2026 Musk has said the V3 constellation will ultimately deliver more than 100 times the bandwidth of the current roughly 11,000-satellite constellation. The billionaire also said that Starlink is more reliable than cable. SpaceX also sunset all planned Falcon 9 Starlink launches from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, with the company saying that all future East Coast Starlink missions are expected to use the Starship rocket instead. Elon Musk Touts 10 Million Tons of Payload Last week, Musk said that the Starship rocket would be capable of delivering 10 million tons of payload to orbit annually as soon as the rocket’s operations reach scale. These comments came after Musk had predicted months earlier that Starship would be able to carry 1 million tons of orbital payload annually. Read Also: Elon Musk Warns ‘Hundreds, Maybe Thousands’ of Fraud Rings Are Stealing US Taxpayer Money Through SNAP Card Skimming Networks Price Action: SpaceX shares were up 0.40% to $152.46 during overnight trading on Monday. Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link. Photo courtesy: Samuel Boivin / Shutterstock.com