Test Flight
12th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Maiden Flight of Starship V3. The flight test’s primary goal will be to demonstrate each of these new pieces in the flight environment for the first time, with each element of the Starship architecture featuring significant redesigns to enable full and rapid reuse that incorporate learnings from years of development and test. The Starship upper stage will target multiple in-space and reentry objectives, including a payload deployment of 20 Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, and two specially modified Starlink satellites. The two modified satellites will test hardware planned for Starlink V3 and will attempt to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to test methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned. For Starship entry, a single heat shield tile has been intentionally removed to measure the aerodynamic load differences on adjacent tiles when there is a tile missing. Finally, the ship will perform experimental actions tested on previous flight tests, including a maneuver to intentionally stress the structural limits of the vehicle’s rear flaps and a dynamic banking maneuver to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly.
The SpaceX Starship is a fully reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by SpaceX since 2012, as a self-funded private spaceflight project. The second stage of the Starship — is designed as a long-duration cargo and passenger-carrying spacecraft. It is expected to be initially used without any booster stage at all, as part of an extensive development program to prove out launch-and-landing and iterate on a variety of design details, particularly with respect to the vehicle's atmospheric reentry.
Mar 1, 2019 — ongoing
SpX Mission
#679
Pad Launch
#1
Location Launch
#21
Weather GO
85%
May 22, 2026, 10:30 PM
Second
18 updates
Successful liftoff and ascent of Starship and Super Heavy, placing Ship 39 on a valid suborbital trajectory
SourceLiftoff.
SourceUnofficial Re-stream by SPACE AFFAIRS has started
SourceUpdated launch weather, 85% GO.
SourceLaunch time is to the second.
SourceConfirmed rescheduled for May 22.
SourceNext attempt NET May 22.
SourceScrub for the day after hold at T-40.
SourceUnofficial Re-stream by SPACE AFFAIRS has started
SourceNow targeting May 21 at 23:30 UTC
SourceTweaked T-0.
SourceNow targeting May 21 at 23:00 UTC
SourceTweaked T-0.
SourceUpdated launch weather, 55% GO.
SourceNow targeting May 21 at 22:30 UTC
SourceNow targeting May 20 at 22:30 UTC
SourceGO for launch.
SourceNET May 19, TBC.
SourceNET May 15 per new marine navigation warnings, TBC.
SourceNET May 12, TBC.
SourceNET May.
SourceNET April
SourceTargeting March
SourceMoved to NET Q1 based on vehicle testing progress.
SourceNET January.
SourceAdded launch
SourceStarbase is an industrial complex for Starship rockets and the headquarters of the American aerospace manufacturer company SpaceX. Located near Brownsville, Texas, United States, it has been under construction since the late 2010s by SpaceX. Starbase is composed of a spaceport near the Gulf of Mexico, a production facility at the Boca Chica village, and a small structure test site along the Texas State Highway 4.
Timezone
America/Chicago
Local Launch Time
May 22, 2026, 5:30 PM
Total Launches
21
Total Landings
13
Coordinates
25.9970, -97.1570
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
Founded
2002
Administrator
CEO: Elon Musk
Total Launches
681
Successful
666
Failed
15
Pending
120
Consecutive Success
166