SpaceX Starship V3 (Flight 12)

The debut flight of SpaceX's upgraded Starship V3 — a suborbital test of the new vehicle and Raptor 3 engines, a step toward future orbital, lunar, and Mars missions.

Following successful booster catches in late 2025, SpaceX moved to the "Version 3" architecture, a larger and significantly more powerful iteration of the Starship vehicle designed to dramatically increase payload to orbit. Flight 12 (May 22, 2026) was the suborbital debut of this vehicle; the FAA later grounded it pending a mishap review.

Key Numbers

Vehicle Iteration

Starship V3

Target Payload to LEO

150-200 tonnes

Engines

33x Raptor (Super Heavy)

Verified Facts

• On May 7, 2026, SpaceX successfully conducted a full-duration 33-engine static fire of the V3 Super Heavy booster, preparing for Flight 12 targeted for mid-May.
• The V3 architecture stretches the vehicle and pushes Raptor engine efficiency to its maximum, ensuring the payload capacity can reach 150-200 tonnes fully reusable.
• These flights move the focus from simply surviving launch to orbital refueling and catching the upper stage, finalizing the fully reusable loop required to blanket Earth with Starlink and colonize Mars.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources & Further Reading

• SpaceX Starship

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