Starship Set for Historic Test Flight as Electron Nears 100th Launch
Source Ars Technica
At a glance
SpaceX plans to try recovering all parts of a Starship rocket after launch this weekend. Rocket Lab's small Electron rocket is also nearing its 100th mission.
Key points
Starship will launch on Friday, and its upper stage will try to land on Saturday.
Electron lifts off from New Zealand on November 14 for its 100th mission.
The mission carries an iQPS synthetic aperture radar satellite into low Earth orbit.
Firefly signed a deal with Synspective for up to 10 Alpha launches through 2030.
Why it matters
If fully reusable rockets succeed, launching things into space could become much cheaper. The deals also show how competition in the satellite launch market is growing.
Original article
Rocket Report: Starship set for historic test flight; a century of Electron
Ars Technica · Nov 13, 2026, 9:00 PM GMT+9 · arstechnica.com
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