On May 22, 2026 SpaceX flew Flight 12 of its next-generation Starship V3, testing engines, heat shields and payload deployment before a scripted ocean splashdown
On May 22, 2026 SpaceX executed Flight 12, the first full test of its next-generation Starship V3 from Starbase, Texas. The launch, scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET, sent a towering two-stage vehicle into a suborbital trajectory with specific experiments in mind.
Observers watched as the vehicle climbed, separated and performed planned maneuvers that would stress the design improvements incorporated into V3.
The mission combined operational practice with deliberate stress tests: a live payload run of 22 dummy Starlink satellites, a deliberately modified heat shield panel, and recovery scenarios for both stages.
The upper stage, known as Ship 39, survived atmospheric reentry, completed landing maneuvers and splashed down in the Indian Ocean, where it detonated as planned. The entire flight lasted about 66 minutes, returning a trove of telemetry and high-speed imagery for engineers.
How the launch unfolded
Launch sequence and stage behavior
The stack began with the Super Heavy booster firing its 33 powerful Raptor engines for ascent. A few minutes into flight the stages separated: the booster executed a shortened boostback burn and then fell away toward the Gulf. SpaceX did not attempt a pad recovery for this mission; instead the first stage made an uncontrolled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The upper stage, Ship 39, continued on a suborbital arc to test orbital-class systems without attempting to reach stable orbit.
An engine anomaly and in-flight adjustments
During ascent the Ship experienced the loss of one of its six new Raptor 3 engines. Flight controllers compensated by extending burn time on the remaining engines so the vehicle remained on a trajectory within analysis bounds. Because of that dropout, a planned midflight engine relight test was canceled, but the mission proceeded to the critical experiments and payload release phase.
What was tested and what engineers learned
Payload deployment and heat shield trial
Approximately 20 minutes into the flight the upper stage opened its narrow payload bay and released 22 dummy Starlink satellites — two of which, nicknamed Dodger Dogs, carried lights and cameras intended to photograph the ship. The deployment ran faster than on earlier flights, demonstrating improvements in the dispensing mechanism. Later, during reentry, the vehicle passed through peak heating conditions; teams had removed a single panel from the thermal protection system to intentionally test resilience. Cameras showed the ship surviving peak heating with no catastrophic burn-through.
Reentry, landing maneuvers and splashdown
As Ship 39 reentered, it used flaps to control attitude and performed a banking maneuver before igniting engines for a controlled descent. Although only two of its three landing engines fired, the ship executed a textbook flip-and-burn landing sequence and touched down in the water west of Australia in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX had planned that stage to be expendable for this flight, and upon splashdown it exploded in a large fireball — a deliberate end to capture data rather than recover hardware.
Broader implications and next steps
This test advances the program toward operational goals. SpaceX intends the Starship V3 architecture to serve as NASA’s lunar lander for the Artemis program, with mission planning pointing toward Artemis IV as a candidate flight in 2028. Long-range ambitions remain focused on Mars: the vehicle is being designed for orbital refueling to support crewed and cargo missions to the Red Planet and ultimately enable sustained presence.
Flight 12 also highlighted procedural lessons. The attempt originally slated for the previous day was scrubbed when a hydraulic pin failed to retract on the tower arm roughly 40 seconds from liftoff. That issue was addressed before the successful May 22 launch. Engineers will comb through telemetry from the Raptor 3 engines, the thermal protection observations and the satellite deployment videos — including imagery from the two camera-equipped Dodger Dogs — to refine future flights. SpaceX has already signaled that the next milestone will be Flight 13, as teams push toward more complex demonstrations and eventual crewed operations.
