The launch scheduled for Thursday was canceled because of technical issues.
SpaceX is focusing on a launch window that opens as we speak, Might 22, at 6:30 pm ET for Starship V3’s debut flight. The corporate was pressured to cancel plans for V3’s maiden flight and Starship’s twelfth general take a look at flight on Might 21 because of technical issues. The countdown to liftoff from Starbase, Texas, on Thursday evening was already underway, however needed to be stopped at that time. Elon Musk revealed on X that the hydraulic pin holding the spacecraft’s tower arm in place will not retract.
The V3 model of Starship is roughly 5 toes taller than earlier variations and has a number of vital upgrades. Each the Tremendous Heavy and Ship levels are geared up with the corporate’s extra highly effective Raptor 3 engine, able to delivering “elevated thrust.” The tremendous heavy’s 33 Raptor 3 engines can present greater than 18 million kilos of mixed thrust, permitting the spacecraft to hold heavier payloads. That is the flexibility wanted for lengthy journeys into house. “Starship and Tremendous Heavy V3 debut superior avionics options designed for top flight speeds, full reusability, and elevated reliability,” SpaceX wrote on its web site.
With this flight take a look at, SpaceX merely goals to exhibit new {hardware} for the primary time. The objective is a profitable launch, ascent, stage separation, and touchdown. SpaceX is not going to try to seize it with the launch tower’s mechanical arm, because it did with earlier variations of the booster. The corporate stated it plans to land the Tremendous Heavy offshore within the Gulf of Mexico (renamed the Gulf of America in 2025 by President Donald Trump) for now, as that is the “first flight take a look at of a considerably redesigned automobile.”
As for the higher stage ship, the corporate will try to deploy its 20 Starlink satellite tv for pc simulators and two improved Starlink satellites on board. The 2 modified satellites are deliberate to hold take a look at {hardware} for Starlink V3 and can scan the ship’s warmth protect. The pictures will assist the corporate analyze whether or not the warmth protect is efficient sufficient to return to the launch website on future missions. The higher stage will carry out maneuvers that deliberately stress its rear flaps, in addition to mimic the trajectory a future mission would take to return to the house station.
You may watch tonight’s launch try on SpaceX’s X account or within the video embedded under.
Watch Starship’s twelfth flight take a look at https://t.co/wxna6dy4Lh
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) Might 21, 2026
