SpaceX targets May 19 for Starship V3’s first launch, featuring major Super Heavy and Ship upgrades and new Starbase Pad 2.
A countdown is back in play for one of the most ambitious rockets ever built: SpaceX has set a debut launch date for its Starship V3, and the first flight is scheduled just a week away.
SpaceX is targeting May 19 for the first launch of Starship V3 (Version 3). with the company saying the mission is set to begin during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:30 p.m.. EDT (2230 GMT).. Launch is planned from SpaceX’s Starbase site in South Texas. and local time in Texas is listed as 5:30 p.m.. The company also indicated the launch will be livestreamed when the time comes.
If the schedule holds. this would be the 12th Starship launch overall. but a historic milestone for Starship V3 itself: it will be the first time the upgraded V3 configuration flies.. Starship is described by SpaceX as the biggest and most powerful rocket it has built. and the latest version is being framed as a step toward enabling human missions to the Moon and Mars.
The biggest hardware changes are spread across both parts of the system—Super Heavy and the Ship.. On Super Heavy’s first stage. SpaceX says the V3 booster now uses three grid fins for steering and recovery instead of four.. The company also says each fin is 50% larger and designed to be significantly stronger. with updates that include a new catch point and changes to how the booster is “re-clocked” to support lift and catch operations.
SpaceX further says those fins have been lowered to reduce heat exposure from Starship’s engines during “hot-staging.” Beyond the fins. the “hot stage” that connects the booster to the Ship upper stage has also been changed: in this configuration. the hot stage is integrated into Super Heavy and will not be discarded during flight.
The booster fuel system is also a major focus of the redesign.. SpaceX reports that Super Heavy’s fuel transfer tube—used to channel cryogenic fuel from the main tank to the 33 Raptor engines—has been completely redesigned.. In describing the new design. SpaceX says it is roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage and is intended to allow all 33 engines to start simultaneously and faster. supporting more reliable flip maneuvers.
Ship, the upper stage, has been altered just as extensively.. SpaceX says V3 features a “clean-sheet redesign” of its propulsion system.. The company describes that change as enabling a new Raptor startup method. increasing propellant tank volume. and improving the reaction control system used for steering while in flight.
SpaceX also says the propulsion updates reduce the amount of contained volume in the aft end of the vehicle that could trap propellant leakage—an operational detail that can matter for reliability during repeated flight cycles.. The redesigned Ship additionally includes “propellant feed connections” intended to support off-Earth fuel transfer. which SpaceX says each Starship will need to conduct multiple times during deep-space missions.
The upcoming mission also ties into developments at SpaceX’s launch infrastructure. SpaceX says the May launch will mark the debut of Starbase’s Pad 2, which it says can fuel Starship faster and includes shorter booster-catching “chopsticks,” along with other modifications.
Taken together, SpaceX positions these updates as enabling a “step-change” in Starship capabilities.. In the company’s description. the goal is to unlock core functions including full and rapid reuse. in-space propellant transfer. deployment of Starlink satellites and orbital data centers. and the ability to send people and cargo to the Moon and Mars.
Even with the upgrades, SpaceX says Starship Flight 12 will be broadly similar to previous missions.. The plan calls for sending Ship eastward on a suborbital trajectory.. Roughly 17.5 minutes after liftoff. the spacecraft is set to begin deploying 22 dummy Starlink V2 satellites. with the deployment process expected to wrap up about 10 minutes later.
As part of the payload activity, the mission includes imaging goals: the last two of the dummy satellites will collect imagery of Ship’s heat shield. SpaceX says that information will feed into the development of future missions.
Flight 12 also includes an in-space propulsion check. SpaceX says Ship will relight one of its six Raptor engines in space—an action it will need on operational flights.
The mission timing also includes planned ocean recovery.. If all goes to plan. SpaceX says Ship will splash down about 65 minutes after launch. with the report suggesting this would be in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia. a landing area it notes has been the norm.. Super Heavy. meanwhile. is described as steering itself to a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after launch.
One key difference from some earlier efforts involves the booster’s fate after separation.. SpaceX says that because this is the first flight test of a significantly redesigned vehicle. Super Heavy will not attempt a return to the launch site for catch.. The company explicitly contrasts that choice with a maneuver the booster has pulled off on multiple previous flights.
Attention around this launch is high not only because it introduces V3 and Pad 2, but also because of where the program has been recently. SpaceX notes that Starship has not flown since October 2025, when it conducted a test flight that reportedly went entirely according to plan.
Starship V3 SpaceX May 19 launch Starbase Pad 2 Super Heavy upgrades dummy Starlink deployment