SpaceX will attempt to catch the Starship on the next flight, aiming for a rapid increase in cadence

As for what happens after this test flight, Shotwell said SpaceX will attempt to fly a Starship upper stage again “early” next year. The company will also seek to complete a long-delayed Starship refueling test in early 2027. This ship-to-ship refueling demonstration is an important step for SpaceX and NASA in proving the viability of Starship refueling in low Earth orbit for lunar missions.

Refueling on this scale has never been done before, and the company needs to obtain data on the efficiency of these transfers and the rate of evaporation of liquid oxygen and methane in space. This data will help refine projections of the number of launches needed to support landing a spacecraft on the Moon for NASA as part of the Artemis program.

For SpaceX, the near-term priority is achieving a high flight cadence for Starship and pushing the boundaries of vehicle reuse to achieve this.

A weekly cadence?

Musk, who often offers hyper-optimistic timelines, said he expects Starship to reach a “weekly” flight cadence in the first half of 2027 and launch twice a week in the second half. The key will be to what extent Starship can be reused.

“The speed at which we launch Starship will increase dramatically as we solve for rapid and complete reuse,” Musk said. “Initially, there will be a bit of refurbishment required between each flight, and we will eliminate the need for refurbishment so that you can immediately land the rocket and launch it again, just like an airplane.”

At least that’s the vision. Achieving full reuse with an orbital rocket has never been achieved before, so SpaceX’s engineering team will undoubtedly face significant obstacles. However, over time, they will likely get closer to the vision of rocket launch, landing and re-flight.

SpaceX will focus largely on its own payloads in 2027 with the Starship rocket. Shotwell said the company will continue to launch Starlink V3 satellites, the second generation of “mobile” satellites offering direct-to-cell connectivity, as well as prototype Starmind data centers next year. During the earnings call, neither Musk nor Shotwell addressed, nor were asked by financial analysts, the controversial throttling of Starlink capabilities for Ukraine in its war with Russia.