SpaceX sends a new version of the Starship rocket on its twelfth test flight over the Indian Ocean
The Starship version 3 rocket lifted off on 22 May from the Starbase site in Texas, reached its planned trajectory and splashed down in the Indian Ocean, with part of the engine cluster not firing as designed.
The American company SpaceX launched the twelfth test flight of its Starship rocket from the Starbase complex in Texas on 22 May 2026, the first carrying the new vehicle variant designated V3, the company said on its website the same day. The mission lasted about an hour. The Super Heavy first stage performed a controlled return to the platform with part of its engines not firing throughout, while the upper stage, the Starship vehicle itself, reached its planned trajectory, deployed 20 Starlink satellite dummies and splashed down in the Indian Ocean. NASA is counting on Starship as the lander for the Artemis 3 mission, which is to return astronauts to the lunar surface.
Version 3 differs from earlier ones in several key respects, SpaceX engineers said in a technical blog published after the flight. The vehicle is about 5 metres longer, carries more propellant and is fitted with an upgraded thermal shield of hexagonal ceramic tiles that are now mechanically attached rather than glued. The previous day’s launch attempt on 21 May was scrubbed for nothing specific to the rocket itself, but because of a problem with the ground-side pressurisation system, the company said.
According to SpaceX and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Super Heavy first stage lifted off with 33 Raptor engines; several engines shut down earlier than expected in the return phase, but the return manoeuvre was carried out nonetheless. The Starship vehicle itself, with six Raptor engines, reached a sub-orbital altitude of about 194 kilometres. Two camera-equipped instruments tracking the vehicle externally streamed images in real time up to the moment the heat shield began glowing on atmospheric re-entry.
What this flight means for the Artemis mission
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took office in January 2026, said after the flight that Starship was “a step closer to the Moon”, but without a firm date for the next Artemis mission. Under NASA’s current programme schedule from April this year, Artemis 2 with a crewed lunar fly-by is planned for the final quarter of 2026, while Artemis 3 with a surface landing has slipped to 2028. Before that, the Starship lander has to demonstrate that it can transfer cryogenic propellant in orbit, which SpaceX plans to demonstrate across two separate launches at the end of 2026.
According to the FAA’s accompanying report, the flight ended within the cleared zone and without incident in the surrounding shipping lanes. The eleven Starship flights to date have produced mixed outcomes, with several partial successes and three upper-stage explosions at various flight phases. After the fifth explosion over the Caribbean in January 2025, the FAA demanded a review of the debris-disposal procedure, which SpaceX put in place with version V3.
The limits of this outcome are worth bearing in mind. Although SpaceX flagged the flight as a success, two key programme items, the return of the Super Heavy stage to the launch tower chopsticks and a soft landing of Starship itself at its target point, have not yet been performed with full precision in the same flight. Until that is achieved, the Artemis 3 schedule remains at risk, and the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a March report that the probability of a lunar landing in 2028 is below 50 percent without further demonstrations.
