Crew-13 Launches, Starship Cadence Cut, Delta Wi-Fi Row

SpaceX’s first two days of October brought a crewed ISS mission, a quiet but notable Starship cadence revision, a public confrontation with Delta Air Lines over in-flight Wi-Fi, and a rideshare mission that drew Indian startups and Google’s first orbital AI hardware.

Key points

• Crew-13 launched from Cape Canaveral on October 1, carrying four astronauts despite weather complications at the pad.
• Elon Musk publicly revised Starship’s expected 2024 launch cadence downward, a direct admission that earlier targets will not be met.
• Musk publicly pressured Delta Air Lines CEO after the carrier chose Amazon’s Project Kuiper (Leo) over Starlink for in-flight connectivity.
• The Transporter-18 rideshare mission carried Google’s first orbital AI prototype, multiple Indian commercial payloads, and a second satellite from Hyderabad-based TakeMe2Space.
• Globe Telecom extended Starlink satellite-to-mobile roaming to Japan through a KDDI partnership, broadening Starlink’s consumer reach in Asia.

Crew-13: four astronauts aboard despite weather pressure

SpaceX flew its Crew-13 mission on October 1 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, delivering four astronauts to the International Space Station. Weather was flagged as a challenge in the lead-up to the launch window, though the mission proceeded. The Gurufocus report accompanying the coverage noted that SPCX shares continue to reflect elevated growth expectations, though it offered no new share-price or valuation figures beyond that characterization. Crew-13 keeps SpaceX’s human spaceflight cadence on track after a busy 2025 and 2026 schedule for NASA Commercial Crew.

Why did Musk revise the Starship 2024 launch count?

The more consequential announcement on October 1 was quieter. Musk revised down the number of Starship launches originally anticipated for 2024, acknowledging that the cadence investors and observers had been tracking will not materialize as forecast. The report flags this as carrying implications for SPCX’s near-term outlook, though specific revised figures were not provided in the summary available. Context matters here: the cadence revision is being disclosed in October 2026, well after the 2024 period in question, suggesting the announcement may relate to a retrospective adjustment or a public clarification Musk made this week. The sourcing is thin on specifics, and readers should treat the precise framing with caution until further details emerge.

What is clear is that Starship’s ramp to high-frequency operations remains slower than Musk’s own earlier projections. That pattern is not new, but the public acknowledgment keeps pressure on SpaceX to demonstrate whether 2025 and 2026 cadences can compensate.

The Delta confrontation: Starlink vs. Amazon Leo

Musk publicly expressed displeasure at Delta Air Lines after the airline chose Amazon’s Project Kuiper (referred to as “Leo” in the source) for in-flight Wi-Fi rather than Starlink. The tone, described as a warning directed at Delta’s CEO, is consistent with Musk’s approach to competitive disputes in recent years. For investors, the episode highlights that Starlink’s aviation business is a contested market. United and others have signed Starlink deals, but Delta represents a major U.S. carrier going to a rival. Amazon’s Kuiper constellation is still in early deployment, so the contract is forward-looking, but the public pressure campaign suggests SpaceX sees the aviation vertical as worth fighting for openly.

Transporter-18: Google’s AI chips reach orbit, Indian firms expand

The Transporter-18 rideshare mission carried an unusually diverse manifest. Google, working with Planet Labs, flew the first hardware for Project Suncatcher, a prototype satellite equipped with four Tensor Processing Units. The goal is to test how Google’s AI chips hold up against radiation, extreme temperatures, and launch stress. Google is treating this as a long-range research exercise, not a near-term product launch.

On the same mission, multiple Indian commercial payloads rode Falcon 9, reflecting the growing appetite among Indian private space firms to use SpaceX’s rideshare infrastructure when domestic launch options are unavailable or less convenient. Among them was TakeMe2Space, a Hyderabad startup that lost its first satellite on an ISRO PSLV mission in January. Its second satellite, now aboard Transporter-18, is aimed at building toward orbital data processing. The recovery underscores how SpaceX’s rideshare cadence serves as a reliable backstop for startups that have suffered launch failures elsewhere.

Globe and KDDI bring Starlink roaming to Japan

Philippine carrier Globe has extended Starlink satellite-to-mobile connectivity to customers traveling in Japan, through a partnership with KDDI. Globe customers on select plans can use messaging, navigation, and communication apps via Starlink while in Japan, building on the Philippines commercial rollout that preceded it. The expansion is incremental but points to how Starlink’s direct-to-cell service is being layered into carrier roaming agreements across Asia, adding geographic coverage one partner at a time rather than through a single regional deal.