Starfighters Space is preparing a December 2026 captive-carry flight of its STARLAUNCH 1 suborbital development vehicle aboard an F-104 Starfighter at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The inert vehicle, supplied by Italy’s Robby Moto Engineering, will remain attached to the aircraft during a planned flight between Kennedy and Cecil Spaceport in Jacksonville to validate integration, aerodynamic behaviour and operating procedures before release and powered-flight tests.
Starfighters has finalised STARLAUNCH 1’s airframe design and ordered the flight hardware, which is expected to arrive at the company’s Kennedy Space Center hangar in November. Engineers will assemble the vehicle and test the rocket-to-aircraft interface before the flight. No ignition or release is planned during the captive-carry mission.
The aircraft may also carry Wind Tunnel in the Sky hardware under its opposite wing. The arrangement could provide a customer-funded rideshare opportunity while helping balance the F-104 aerodynamically. The hardware uses common and interchangeable systems with the STARLAUNCH vehicle, allowing shared integration procedures.
The captive-carry flight is intended to precede an Atlantic Ocean drop test and a later demonstration of the integrated propulsion system. Starfighters has not identified the initial customer associated with the vehicle or confirmed whether that deployment is under contract. The December sortie remains a target and is not confirmation that all required regulatory approvals have been obtained.