- Will two SpaceX Starships dock together by December 31, 2026?5¢5%
- Will two SpaceX Starships dock together by December 31, 2027?61¢61%
SpaceX achieved its first Starship orbital flight on Flight 14 in late September 2026, deploying Starlink simulators and validating key systems despite an engine issue, yet in-orbit docking between two vehicles remains undemonstrated. Recent announcements center on Flight 15's planned November 2026 double tower catch of Booster 22 and Ship 42, advancing booster reuse while the upper stage has never been caught. NASA’s revised Artemis III architecture calls for a 2027 Earth-orbit docking test between a Florida-launched Starship and Orion to validate hardware ahead of propellant transfer milestones, requiring separate launches and rendezvous capabilities that introduce schedule and technical risks. Trader consensus reflects these sequential hurdles, with rapid reusability progress offset by the absence of demonstrated proximity operations or refueling hardware in flight.
Rules
This market will resolve to “Yes” if two SpaceX Starships successfully execute a docking maneuver in a stable Earth orbit between market creation and the listed date, 11:59 PM ET. Otherwise, this market will resolve to “No”. A qualifying docking maneuver must physically join two vessels, matching in velocity, into a connected structure via mating hardware for at least 60 continuous seconds. The two vessels must be in stable Earth orbit with a perigee of at least 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. The docking of any two SpaceX vessels which each serve as an integrated rocket-and-spacecraft and both equal or exceed Starship in scale will qualify regardless of their contents or variant (standard, tanker, depot, HLS, test article, etc.). The two vessels must be free-flying. Any capsule or payload carried to orbit exclusively atop a separate launch vehicle will not qualify. If either vessel is passively placed into the mating interface of the other vessel, that conjunction will not qualify. The resolution source for this market will be a consensus of credible reporting.