SpaceX launched the first test flight of its upgraded Starship rocket and Super Heavy booster Friday, with mostly positive results. The powerful rocket, propelled by 33 methane-fueled main engines, climbed away from SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility in South Texas at 5:30 pm CDT Friday. Within a few seconds, the 408-foot-tall (124-meter) rocket, the largest ever built, cleared the launch tower and turned onto an eastward heading over the Gulf of Mexico.
Starship splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean a little more than an hour later to conclude the first flight of the latest version of SpaceX’s stainless steel mega-rocket. Starship V3 fared better on its debut than the first flights of Starship V1 and V2 in 2023 and 2025. Both past versions of Starship broke apart during launch on their inaugural flights. So, you know, progress.
SpaceX officials appeared pleased with the performance of Starship V3 on Friday. Elon Musk congratulated his engineers with a post on X: “Congratulations SpaceX team on an epic first Starship V3 launch & landing! You scored a goal for humanity.” Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s second in command, wrote: “This was an incredible first flight of a brand new vehicle. Our collective future flying amongst the stars has become so much closer.” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who watched in person, called it a “hell of a V3 Starship launch.”
The 12th Starship test flight ended a gap of more than seven months - the longest interval between flights since the program’s first full-scale launch in April 2023. SpaceX used the time to build a second launch pad and work through ground-testing setbacks. So what worked? Plenty. Most importantly, the ship’s heat shield appeared to hold up during reentry over the Indian Ocean. Onboard cameras showed the vehicle’s aerodynamic flaps intact throughout the fiery descent - something that didn’t always go so well on past flights. The descent culminated in a dramatic flip from horizontal to vertical, followed by a gentle water landing. Then, as expected, the ship - wider than and nearly as long a Boeing 777 - tipped over and exploded in a fireball, putting an exclamation point on V3’s trip halfway around the world.
Earlier, SpaceX demonstrated Starship V3’s improved payload deployment mechanism, tailored for releasing flat-packed Starlink satellites. The system deployed 20 mockups of next-generation Starlink satellites, plus two spacecraft fitted with flashlights and cameras to inspect Starship’s exterior in space. All of this worked perfectly as the ship soared to a maximum altitude of 121 miles (195 kilometers). SpaceX says this version of Starship can haul up to 100 metric tons of payload into low-Earth orbit - more than double the capacity of Starship V2.
Initial inspections of SpaceX’s new launch pad at Starbase, used for the first time Friday, showed no significant problems - a promising sign for planned pads at Cape Canaveral. However, two Raptor engines failed: one on the Super Heavy booster and one on Starship itself. This flight marked the first use of the upgraded Raptor 3 engine, with higher thrust, lighter weight, and improved efficiency. The ship compensated by burning its five remaining engines longer, reaching its planned trajectory. The booster, however, hurtled toward a high-speed impact in the Gulf after it was unable to complete its boost-back burn. The cause of that early end remains unclear.
One key objective SpaceX did not accomplish was a planned restart of one of the ship’s Raptor engines in space - officials elected to skip it after the engine failure during ascent. That likely prevents an orbital flight attempt on the next launch, as SpaceX wants to ensure it can guide Starship back to Earth before putting a vehicle into orbit, because an unguided reentry could endanger the public with falling debris. Starship, after all, is the world’s largest and most massive spacecraft other than the International Space Station.
Friday’s results give SpaceX a lot to build on. The heat shield performance, widely recognized as the program’s most challenging engineering problem, must be reassuring. The ship’s resilience to engine failure is encouraging. But there’s still work ahead to perfect the Raptor 3 engine. SpaceX has more ships and boosters on track for test flights later this summer, so the chase for perfection continues - just with slightly fewer fireballs than before.