SpaceX's Starship rocket reached Earth orbit for the first time during its 14th test flight on 2026-09-28. ^[7] The vehicle returned to Earth after approximately three hours, which was significantly earlier than the originally planned ten-hour mission duration. ^[2] NASA plans to use the Starship vehicle, which employs the same Raptor engine system, for crewed lunar landings targeted for 2028 as part of the Artemis program. ^[1] Elon Musk stated that SpaceX aims to eventually launch hundreds or thousands of Starship missions annually. ^[3] In a separate development, NASA announced it will use the United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket for future Starliner crew transport missions to the ISS. ^[4] The Russian Defense Ministry stated that a Grad multiple launch rocket system crew from the Battlegroup North's 44th Army Corps destroyed Ukrainian drone control posts and troops in the Sumy Region. ^[5] NASA reclassified the 2024 Starliner mission as a crew-endangering Type A mishap, its most severe ranking, after two test pilots were stuck at the International Space Station for nearly a year. ^[6]