SpaceX prepares Starship Flight 14 after Ship 40 recovery

SpaceX recovered Ship 40 intact from the Indian Ocean after its soft landing on Flight 13.1 Ship 40 performed a controlled flip and landing burn during Flight 13, igniting its engines and swinging into position before landing.1 Teams are readying Ship 41 for engine testing at Massey’s ahead of Flight 14.1

Pad 2 work is continuing toward a potential Flight 14 as early as late August.1 SpaceX reported doubling its revenue compared to the previous year in its first quarterly earnings since going public in June.2 SpaceX's AI revenue grew more than three times to $2.6 billion from the prior year, primarily due to compute deals with other AI companies.3

SpaceX's AI division reported a loss of $1.5 billion this quarter, slightly less than the same period last year.3 SpaceX executives said during their first earnings call that the company is investing heavily in rocket development, Starlink satellites, and AI infrastructure.4 SpaceX plans to start deploying upgraded Starlink satellites into orbit on the next Starship flight, scheduled for as soon as the end of August.5

Elon Musk stated during the earnings call that Starship Flight 14 will deploy viable payloads into orbit, a first for the vehicle.6 Musk also said SpaceX aims to launch Flight 14 before August ends, pending successful preparations.6 SpaceX spent nearly $16 billion on AI infrastructure in the second quarter, according to its earnings report.7

Musk argued during the earnings call that SpaceX's engineering expertise in rocket science positions it to dominate the AI compute market.7