May 21, 2026 — SpaceX is preparing to launch a significantly upgraded version of its Super Heavy–Starship system in a pivotal test flight that brings the company closer to a human-rated moon lander. The flight, the 12th integrated test of the Starship architecture, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET Thursday from SpaceX’s Starbase facility on the Texas Gulf Coast, weather permitting. Earlier attempts this week were delayed by high winds and rain.
The new vehicle, billed as the “version 3” Starship, incorporates multiple design changes: more powerful, lighter Raptor engines, structural and safety upgrades, and improvements intended to speed turnaround between flights. The vehicle will launch from SpaceX’s newly beefed-up second Texas pad, built to require less refurbishment after each flight and enable a faster cadence of launches.
As with previous integrated tests, a multi-engine Super Heavy booster will lift the Starship upper stage through the lower atmosphere. Rather than attempt the gantry catch with the pad’s mechanical arms on this maiden flight of the v3 booster, SpaceX will aim for a controlled splashdown of the first stage in the Gulf of Mexico to reduce risk while evaluating the redesigned booster. After separation, the upper stage will climb to a sub-orbital trajectory, travel roughly halfway around the planet, re-enter, and perform a Raptor‑powered descent to splash down in the Indian Ocean about an hour and five minutes after liftoff.
SpaceX says the flight will test many of version 3’s redesigned systems in real flight conditions. Objectives include successful ascent, stage separation, boost‑back and landing burns for the booster, and a range of in‑space and reentry targets for the upper stage. The mission will deploy 22 Starlink simulator payloads; the final two deployed satellites are intended to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery to help operators assess heat‑shield readiness for future return‑to‑launch‑site missions. Some 50 onboard cameras will capture the flight, with imagery relayed to Earth via Starlink.
The reentry profile is planned to intentionally stress the vehicle’s rear flight control flaps and will include a dynamic banking maneuver designed to mimic the trajectory future missions would fly when returning to Starbase. The version 3 stack is also far more powerful on the pad: SpaceX says it can deliver up to about 18 million pounds of liftoff thrust, roughly twice the thrust of NASA’s Space Launch System.
SpaceX’s integrated Starship tests have produced a mix of high‑profile successes and failures across 11 prior flights. The company has iterated rapidly between flights, incorporating lessons learned into subsequent designs; version 3 is the most extensive redesign to date aimed at enabling full, rapid reuse.
For NASA, the outcome of Starship’s development is especially important. The agency selected a Starship variant as its lunar lander for the Artemis program, a role that requires a human‑rated, flight‑tested upper stage capable of ferrying astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface and back. NASA is hedging by also working with Blue Origin on an alternative lander, and plans to test rendezvous and docking procedures in low Earth orbit during Artemis III — which could involve one or both landers — before committing to a moon landing in Artemis IV, currently targeted for 2028.
Using Starship as a moon lander presents a series of technical challenges. The lander would need to be refueled in Earth orbit before departing for the moon because it uses most of its propellant just to reach orbit. That refueling requires multiple tanker flights to transfer large volumes of cryogenic propellants between vehicles in space — an operation that has never been attempted at this scale and on such tight timelines. SpaceX has not fully detailed how it will limit boil‑off of supercold fuel in orbit or the precise number of tanker missions required.
Landing on the lunar surface also carries unique difficulties: astronauts in an Orion capsule would dock with Starship in lunar orbit, transfer inside, and then descend to an automated touchdown near the moon’s south pole. The plan calls for an external elevator that would lower crew to the surface and then return them to the cabin for ascent and rendezvous with Orion. Under its NASA contract, SpaceX must complete at least one uncrewed lunar landing mission before astronauts would fly aboard.
Beyond NASA’s lunar ambitions, SpaceX intends to use Starship for a range of missions including launching large satellite constellations, deploying science probes, and eventually crewed voyages to Mars.
Thursday’s flight will be an early — and closely watched — test of whether the version 3 design advances Starship’s reliability and reusability goals. Success would mark a major milestone in the program; setbacks would feed into further iterations as SpaceX continues rapid development of the world’s largest rocket.