SpaceX on May 22 launched its biggest and most upgraded version of Starship on a test flight from Starbase, at the southern tip of Texas, as part of a campaign to develop a reusable rocket system for future moon and Mars missions.
The flight lifted off on a redesigned “V3” Starship that SpaceX described as its biggest, most beefed-up yet, coming two days after Elon Musk announced he was taking the company public. During the hourlong flight—described as stretching halfway around the world—SpaceX released 20 mock Starlink satellites midway through the mission.
SpaceX said the spacecraft reached its final destination in the Indian Ocean despite some engine trouble, and that the vehicle erupted in flames upon impact. Musk characterized the launch and landing as “an epic” in a message to his team posted on X, writing, “You scored a goal for humanity.”
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew in for the launch and said Starship is now one step closer to the moon. The launch also came after a Thursday attempt using older, space-skimming Starships was delayed by last-minute pad issues, according to SpaceX.
SpaceX framed the sequence as continuing progress in an extensive test history for the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day, but the near-term focus remains the moon and NASA’s Artemis program. NASA already relies on commercial providers for lunar landers, paying SpaceX billions of dollars as it also pays Blue Origin, part of a competition to be ready first.
Under that approach, NASA’s Artemis timelines include a docking trial run planned for next year around Earth, following an April successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts. For Artemis III, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both.
A moon landing with a crew could follow with Artemis IV as soon as 2028, using either Starship or Blue Moon depending on which lander is safer and ready first, SpaceX said. NASA has said the goal is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts and robots.
For this test flight, SpaceX’s latest Starship design measured 407 feet (124 meters) and was described as eclipsing older Starship versions by several feet while packing more engine thrust. SpaceX said the revamped booster uses fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins to steer toward a controlled return, plus a larger fuel transfer line sized to feed the rocket’s 33 main engines.
SpaceX said Starship is intended to be fully reusable, with mechanical arms at launch pads designed to catch returning stages, but on this latest trial nothing was recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, while the spacecraft and its satellite demos ended in the Indian Ocean.
The flight also continued a push toward operational demonstration, including a first of its kind for these trials: SpaceX said a pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight. SpaceX said the launch itself went well, but not all of the engines fired as the booster attempted a controlled return, and the spacecraft had to make do with fewer engines while still continuing eastward about 120 miles (194 kilometers) up.
SpaceX is also marketing Starship’s longer-term destinations to private customers, taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars. Dennis Tito, described as the world’s first space tourist, and his wife signed up about 3 1/2 years ago for a flight around the moon, and the timing remains uncertain, the report said; another prospective customer, Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang, has said he plans to fly to Mars on Starship’s first interplanetary mission, with no price tag or date disclosed.