A final sendoff for V2: On Monday night, SpaceX launched the current version of Starship for its last test flight, achieving all major objectives and advancing the project to its subsequent stage, according to the company.
The rocket, standing nearly 400 feet tall, took off from Starbase in Texas at 6:23 PM local time. The Super Heavy booster, which had previously flown in March, attempted a new landing-burn sequence—reigniting 13 engines, then reducing to five, and finally hovering on three before making a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after launch.
At the same time, Starship’s upper stage released eight simulated Starlink satellites, testing a new “dynamic banking maneuver” that SpaceX plans to use for future return-to-launch-pad attempts at Starbase. The upper stage then landed in the Indian Ocean.
This flight was the last for both the second-generation Starship and the first-generation Super Heavy models. As with earlier tests, engineers also tried out different heat shield tile configurations on the upper stage, including removing some tiles and testing new types to collect data on reentry.
SpaceX also repeated other major milestones from Flight 10, such as deploying simulators and reigniting one of Starship’s six Raptor engines while in orbit.
Monday’s mission officially kicked off the next chapter for the program: flying the upgraded V3 prototype, which is equipped for in-space docking and propellant transfer demonstrations—crucial features for missions to the Moon and Mars. SpaceX notes that V3 features structural enhancements and improvements to the Raptor engine designed to boost payload capacity, though no exact numbers were provided.
“This upcoming version will support the first orbital Starship flights, operational payload deliveries, propellant transfer, and more as we work toward a fully reusable vehicle capable of servicing Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” the company stated.
At the same time, SpaceX is upgrading Pad A at Starbase and moving launches to Pad B, while also constructing two Starship launch pads at Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Starship stands as the most powerful rocket ever built and is central to both NASA’s Artemis program and SpaceX’s strategy for launching larger Starlink satellites.
Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy praised the flight on X, calling it “another significant advance toward landing Americans at the Moon’s south pole.”
SpaceX has received over $4 billion to create a crew-rated version of Starship, known as the Human Landing System, for NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, which is currently targeted for 2027. However, to meet that timeline, SpaceX must first achieve several complex milestones, particularly orbital docking and in-space propellant transfer.
