Starship
Active Re-UsableSpaceX (SpX)
May 22, 2026
Description
Third development version of the Starship reusable two-stage super heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Specifications
-
Stages
2 -
Length
124.4 m -
Diameter
9.0 m -
Fairing Diameter
9.0 m -
Launch Mass
5250.0 T -
Thrust
80807.0 kN
Family
-
Name
Starship -
Family
― -
Variant
V3 -
Alias
― -
Full Name
Starship V3
Payload Capacity
-
Launch Cost
― -
Low Earth Orbit
100000.0 kg -
Geostationary Transfer
Orbit
― -
Direct Geostationary
― -
Sun-Synchronous Capacity
―
SpaceX
Commercial
CEO: Elon Musk
SpX 2002Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, is an American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by entrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX operates from many pads, on the East Coast of the US they operate from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and historic LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. They also operate from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, usually for polar launches. Another launch site is being developed at Boca Chica, Texas.
Upcoming Spaceflights
Starship | Starlink Group 31-1 (Starship Flight 14)
SpaceX | United States of AmericaSpaceX Starbase, TX, USA
Status: To Be Confirmed
Mission:
14th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. 3rd flight of Starship V3 and the first Starship flight to deploy satellites (a group of Starlink satellites known as Starlink Group 31-1) into stable Low Earth Orbit. The ship is expected to fly at an altitude approximately 275 km above Earth and complete approximately 6 orbits around the planet for nearly 10 hours, with splashdown targeted in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile. The booster’s primary test objective on Flight 14 will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf. Starship will deliver 26 Starlink V3 satellites to orbit for the first time, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. Each Starlink V3 satellite will add 1 Tbps of capacity to the constellation.
Low Earth Orbit Booster 21 - Maiden Flight Gulf of MexicoStarship | Flight 15
SpaceX | United States of AmericaSpaceX Starbase, TX, USA
Starship | Flight 13
SpaceX | United States of AmericaSpaceX Starbase, TX, USA
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink satellites to space, which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. 6 of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.
Suborbital Booster 20 - Maiden Flight Gulf of Mexico
Starship | Flight 12
SpaceX | United States of AmericaSpaceX Starbase, TX, USA
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:
12th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Maiden Flight of Starship V3. The flight test’s primary goal will be to demonstrate each of these new pieces in the flight environment for the first time, with each element of the Starship architecture featuring significant redesigns to enable full and rapid reuse that incorporate learnings from years of development and test. The Starship upper stage will target multiple in-space and reentry objectives, including a payload deployment of 20 Starlink simulators, similar in size to next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, and two specially modified Starlink satellites. The two modified satellites will test hardware planned for Starlink V3 and will attempt to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to test methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned. For Starship entry, a single heat shield tile has been intentionally removed to measure the aerodynamic load differences on adjacent tiles when there is a tile missing. Finally, the ship will perform experimental actions tested on previous flight tests, including a maneuver to intentionally stress the structural limits of the vehicle’s rear flaps and a dynamic banking maneuver to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly.
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