SpaceX has officially flown its upgraded Starship V3 vehicle for the first time, executing a high-stakes test flight from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The launch followed a 24-hour scrub on Thursday evening, May 21, when a mechanical issue, specifically a hydraulic pin holding the launch tower’s mechanical arm, failed to retract in time. However, teams cleared the hardware constraint for a Friday night departure, sending the next-generation deep-space vehicle aloft at 6:30 PM Eastern Time.
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The massive launch vehicle lifted off under the power of all 33 next-generation Raptor 3 engines mounted to the Super Heavy booster. During the initial ascent phase, one of the booster’s main engines suffered an early shutdown; however, the remaining fleet of Raptor 3 engines compensated dynamically, keeping the rocket on its nominal trajectory through stage separation.
Liftoff of Starship! pic.twitter.com/LQLdjK5V6K
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 22, 2026
Following a clean separation, the booster successfully executed a precise directional flip manoeuvre, a critical flight milestone SpaceX targeted to refine attitudes for future operational recovery profiles. The subsequent recovery sequence yielded mixed results:
- Boostback Burn: The booster was unable to ignite the full complement of Raptor engines required to complete a precise boostback burn toward the coast.
- Gulf Impact: After a partial burn, the booster returned on a ballistic trajectory, plunging into the Gulf of Mexico. Because SpaceX had openly stated prior to launch that it did not intend to catch this specific booster using the launch tower’s mechanical arms, the ocean impact was treated as a planned data-gathering event rather than a structural failure.
Simultaneously, the upper-stage Starship continued its climb into space. Despite losing one of its six integrated Raptor 3 engines during the burn, the vehicle successfully achieved its targeted suborbital velocity. Roughly 30 minutes into the flight, the ship opened its payload bay to deploy 20 Starlink simulators alongside two modified, active Starlink satellites. Flying alongside the upper stage, these custom satellites captured high-resolution external telemetry imagery of Starship coasting through the vacuum of space.
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Views of Starship in space from a @Starlink satellite pic.twitter.com/5hfw1n8v1o
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 22, 2026
The final leg of the mission focused heavily on structural stress-testing during atmospheric re-entry. As Starship plunged back through the upper atmosphere, onboard sensors captured critical thermodynamic data regarding the performance and durability of its revised heat shield tiles.
During the terminal phase of flight, the vehicle executed aggressive, pre-programmed aerodynamic manoeuvres designed to intentionally stress its rear flaps and simulate the steep landing trajectories required for future return-to-launch-site operations. After completing a successful landing flip and activating two Raptor engines for a controlled landing burn, the upper stage splashed down in the Indian Ocean before experiencing a structural breakup and explosion.
