SpaceX Will Launch Starship V3 For Its First Test Flight Today

SpaceX is targeting a launch window that opens at 6:30PM Eastern time today, May 22, for the Starship V3’s debut flight. The company had to scrub its plans for V3’s first flight, and Starship’s 12th overall test flight, on May 21 after encountering technical issues. It was already counting down for launch on Thursday evening from Starbase, Texas when it had to stand down. A hydraulic pin holding the spacecraft’s tower arm in place would not retract, Elon Musk revealed on X. 

The V3 version of Starship is approximately five feet taller than the previous iteration and features several significant upgrades. Both the Super Heavy and Ship stages are equipped with the company’s more powerful Raptor 3 engines, which can deliver “increased thrust.” Its Super Heavy’s 33 Raptor 3 engines can deliver a combined thrust of over 18 million pounds, allowing the spacecraft to carry heavier payloads. That’s a necessary capability for longer journeys into space. “Starship and Super Heavy V3 will debut advanced avionics capabilities designed for high flight-rate, full reusability, and enhanced reliability,” SpaceX wrote in its website.

For this flight test, SpaceX simply aims to demonstrate its new hardware for the first time. The goal is a successful launch, ascent, stage separation and landing. SpaceX will not attempt to catch it with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, like it had been doing with previous versions of the booster. The company said that since it’s the “first flight test of a significantly redesigned vehicle,” it will be landing Super Heavy at an offshore location in the Gulf of Mexico (renamed the Gulf of America in 2025 by President Donald Trump) for now.

As for the upper-stage Ship, the company will attempt to deploy the 20 Starlink satellite simulators and two modified Starlink satellites it’s carrying. The two modified satellites will have test hardware planned for Starlink V3 and will scan the Ship’s heat shield. The images it takes will help the company analyze whether the heat shield is effective enough for future missions to be able to return to their launch site. The upper stage will also conduct maneuvers to intentionally stress its rear flaps, as well as mimic the trajectory future missions will take to return to Starbase. 

You can watch tonight’s launch attempt on SpaceX’s X account or in the video embedded below.

Watch Starship’s twelfth flight test https://t.co/wxna6dy4Lh

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 21, 2026