SpaceX’s new Starship V3 rocket is seen docked on the Starbase throughout the twelfth check flight on Might 21, 2026 as seen from South Padre Island in Texas.
Ronaldo Schemidt | Afp | Getty Photographs
SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its huge Starship rocket Thursday night, and can attempt once more for its twelfth check flight on Friday.
A 90-minute launch window opened at 6:30 p.m. ET, on Thursday. Throughout a livestream of the occasion, SpaceX video hosts stated the corporate “acquired the automobile completely loaded” onto a brand new launch pad.
The rescheduled launch will characterize the debut of Starship V3, which “is designed to ship 100 metric tons to Earth’s orbit in a totally reusable configuration whereas enabling speedy turnaround instances akin to industrial aviation,” SpaceX stated in its IPO prospectus on Wednesday.
Elon Musk’s reusable rocket maker has spent greater than $15 billion on its Starship program, in keeping with Wednesday’s submitting. The corporate says Starship is essential to launching extra satellites into orbit to construct out its Starlink constellation at a sooner tempo than it has been in a position to utilizing Falcon 9 rockets. Starlink delivers wi-fi web companies to customers, companies and authorities businesses.
The most recent model of the Starship rocket is slated to launch from a newly designed pad at SpaceX’s facility in Starbase, Texas, an official firm city beforehand often known as Boca Chica.
The check flight probably marks the corporate’s final likelihood to dazzle buyers with a Starship launch earlier than shares hit the general public market. Final 12 months, SpaceX’s area section generated income of $4.1 billion and recorded an working lack of $657 million.
The corporate counts on Starlink for a hefty quantity of income and all of its earnings. The connectivity unit, which consists principally of Starlink, introduced in gross sales of $11.4 billion and working revenue of $4.4 billion in 2025. That accounted for 61% of the corporate’s complete gross sales final 12 months, and 69% within the first quarter.
About its area enterprise, SpaceX stated in its prospectus that its “development technique is determined by our skill to extend our launch cadence and payload capability, which depends on the profitable growth of Starship at scale.”
Musk has lengthy held the grandiose purpose of colonizing Mars, utilizing the Starship rocket to raise cargo and as many as 100 folks at a time into orbit.
NASA can also be betting that Starship will function the lander to hold its astronauts to the moon on its Artemis IV mission, at present scheduled for early 2028. The mission would mark U.S. astronauts’ first journey again to the moon in additional than half a century.
Starship V3 stands 408 ft tall when totally stacked, and options new engines that ought to make it a stronger rocket, with 18 million kilos of thrust. The corporate is carrying mock Starlink satellites throughout the check flight however no astronauts or different cargo.
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