1 week ago
Is planned motorboat connected Thursday was scrubbed owed to a method issue.
SpaceX
SpaceX is targeting a motorboat model that opens astatine 6:30PM Eastern clip today, May 22, for nan Starship V3's debut flight. The institution had to scrub its plans for V3's first flight, and Starship's 12th wide trial flight, connected May 21 aft encountering method issues. It was already counting down for motorboat connected Thursday evening from Starbase, Texas erstwhile it had to guidelines down. A hydraulic pin holding nan spacecraft's building limb successful spot would not retract, Elon Musk revealed connected X.
The V3 type of Starship is astir 5 feet taller than nan erstwhile loop and features several important upgrades. Both the Super Heavy and Ship stages are equipped pinch nan company's much powerful Raptor 3 engines, which tin present "increased thrust." Its Super Heavy's 33 Raptor 3 engines tin deliver a mixed thrust of complete 18 cardinal pounds, allowing nan spacecraft to transportation heavier payloads. That's a basal capacity for longer journeys into space. "Starship and Super Heavy V3 will debut precocious avionics capabilities designed for precocious flight-rate, afloat reusability, and enhanced reliability," SpaceX wrote successful its website.
For this formation test, SpaceX simply intends to show its caller hardware for nan first time. The extremity is simply a successful launch, ascent, shape separation and landing. SpaceX will not effort to drawback it pinch nan launch tower's mechanical arms, for illustration it had been doing pinch erstwhile versions of nan booster. The institution said that since it's nan "first formation trial of a importantly redesigned vehicle," it will beryllium landing Super Heavy astatine an offshore location successful nan Gulf of Mexico (renamed nan Gulf of America successful 2025 by President Donald Trump) for now.
As for nan upper-stage Ship, nan institution will effort to deploy nan 20 Starlink outer simulators and 2 modified Starlink satellites it's carrying. The 2 modified satellites will person trial hardware planned for Starlink V3 and will scan nan Ship's power shield. The images it takes will thief nan institution analyse whether nan power shield is effective capable for early missions to beryllium capable to return to their motorboat site. The precocious shape will besides behaviour maneuvers to intentionally accent its rear flaps, arsenic good arsenic mimic nan trajectory early missions will return to return to Starbase.
You tin watch tonight's motorboat effort connected SpaceX's X relationship aliases successful nan video embedded below.
Watch Starship's twelfth formation trial https://t.co/wxna6dy4Lh
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 21, 2026
