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SpaceX Stacks Starship Version 3 on Super Heavy Booster at Starbase Ahead of 12th Test Flight
SpaceX has assembled its tallest rocket yet, loaded more than 5,000 metric tons of propellant and is targeting a launch on May 19 from a new pad in South Texas. The vehicle, powered by uprated Raptor 3 engines, will produce 18 million pounds of thrust. Separately, NASA released 12,000 new images from the crewed Artemis 2 mission that flew around the moon in April.
May 12, 7:00 AM·2m read3 sources
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Ars TechnicaAudio version
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SpaceX stacked a Starship Version 3 upper stage atop its Super Heavy booster on Saturday at Starbase in South Texas, clearing a key milestone for the vehicle's debut flight. The fully integrated rocket stands 408 feet (124 meters) tall, 4 feet taller than its predecessor.
Ground crews followed the stacking with a launch rehearsal on Monday, loading more than 11 million pounds (more than 5,000 metric tons) of super-cold methane and liquid oxygen into both stages.
A previous fueling attempt on Saturday night was halted due to a technical issue. The propellant load came five days after SpaceX conducted a test-firing of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 uprated Raptor 3 engines on May 6. At liftoff, Starship Version 3 is expected to produce some 18 million pounds of thrust, about 10 percent more than the previous generation of Super Heavy boosters.
7 meters) in diameter. SpaceX is using a new launch pad at Starbase located about 1,000 feet (300 meters) west of the previous departure point. The upcoming flight will be the 12th full-scale Starship test flight and the first since the previous test in October 2025.
Maritime warnings issued late Monday indicate SpaceX is now targeting a Starship Version 3 launch attempt on Tuesday, May 19. On future flights of this version, SpaceX plans to attempt catching the upper stage at Starbase with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, as it has already done with the Super Heavy booster.
The company has selected a more southerly flight path over the Gulf of Mexico, passing between the northeastern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula and the western tip of Cuba.
NASA has picked Starship as one of two crewed landers for the Artemis moon program. Starship debuted in April 2023 with an explosion minutes after liftoff. The last two flights were completely successful.
