SpaceX launched the upgraded Starship V3 and Super Heavy booster from Starbase in South Texas on Friday, with mostly positive results. The 408-foot rocket climbed on 33 methane-fueled main engines, cleared the launch tower, and splashed down in the Indian Ocea
At 5:30 pm CDT on Friday. the upgraded Starship V3 didn’t just rise off SpaceX’s Starbase pad in South Texas—it immediately signaled it had learned something from past failures. Seconds after liftoff. the 408-foot-tall (124-meter) rocket. powered by 33 methane-fueled main engines. cleared the launch tower and turned onto an eastward heading over the Gulf of Mexico.
More than an hour later. Starship V3 completed the first flight of this stainless steel version with a touchdown on target in the Indian Ocean. For SpaceX. it was a debut that looked better than the earlier Starship tests in 2023 and 2025. when Starship V1 and V2 both broke apart during their inaugural flights.
SpaceX officials showed the kind of relief and pride that usually follows a long stretch of engineering work. Elon Musk. the company’s founder and CEO. 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, followed with her own message on X: “Congrats and a huge thank you to the SpaceX team that always delivers,” she wrote. “This was an incredible first flight of a brand new vehicle. Our collective future flying amongst the stars has become so much closer.”
The stakes weren’t only internal. NASA is relying on SpaceX to provide Starship as a human-rated Moon lander. and the launch drew close attention from the agency. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman was in Texas to witness the liftoff in person. After the flight, he praised SpaceX, calling it a “hell of a V3 Starship launch.”.
Starship’s 12th test flight was also a long wait compared with the program’s pace. The last Starship test flight took off last October. leaving a gap of more than seven months—the longest interval between Starship flights since the program’s first full-scale launch in April 2023. During that time, SpaceX completed construction and activation of a second launch pad at Starbase. Engineers also pushed Starship V3 through ground testing, which had its own share of setbacks before Friday’s flight.
In the end. the question that hung over this first launch of the latest upgrade wasn’t whether SpaceX would try again—it was whether this version would start closer to the finish line. On Friday. it did. landing on target a little more than an hour after liftoff and giving SpaceX. and NASA’s Moon plans in the background. a clearer path forward.
SpaceX Starship V3 Super Heavy booster Starbase methane-fueled engines NASA Moon lander test flight Indian Ocean Jared Isaacman Gwynne Shotwell Elon Musk
So it landed in the ocean and that’s called a success? I mean… okay.
Elon really just be cooking rockets like it’s a YouTube channel. If it cleared the tower then sweet, right. NASA being there makes it sound way more legit than 2023 stuff.
I swear these articles always say “mostly positive” like it’s not a big deal lol. If it broke apart before, what exactly changed besides “33 methane engines”?? also methane sounds dangerous like gasoline but idk. Congrats though I guess.
Not gonna lie I thought it would explode for sure because “stainless steel version” sounds like it would melt or something. But landing on target in the Indian Ocean?? that’s wild. And the waiting 7 months thing like… maybe they were scared? or maybe they just needed time for the second pad. Either way NASA people praising it means something.