SpaceX has completed the 12th integrated flight test of Starship, marking the first launch of the upgraded Starship V3 super-heavy rocket, a major redesign intended to advance the system toward full reusability and deep-space missions. The mission lifted off on May 22, during an evening launch window that opened around 6:30 pm local time (2330 UTC) from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas. The flight used the full V3 stack – Super Heavy Booster 19 paired with Starship Ship 39 – forming the first complete test of the next-generation architecture, which stands about 124 meters tall and is powered by 33 Raptor engines on the booster and six Raptor vacuum engines on the upper stage.
The launch phase was largely successful, with all 33 booster engines igniting at liftoff, but the flight experienced an early anomaly when one Super Heavy engine shut down during ascent, reducing available thrust margin. Despite this, the vehicle remained stable through Max-Q and continued its climb. The booster successfully separated from the upper stage, but it was unable to complete its planned boost-back burn, a manoeuvre required for return-to-launch-site recovery. Instead, it followed a partial descent trajectory that ended in a controlled crash into the Gulf of Mexico.
After separation, the Starship upper stage continued into space on a suborbital trajectory, where it also encountered an engine anomaly – one of its six Raptor vacuum engines failed during ascent or early spaceflight. The spacecraft compensated by extending burns on the remaining engines, maintaining control and successfully reaching space. It then entered a planned coast phase, demonstrating improved redundancy systems designed into Starship V3, which aim to allow continued mission success even under partial engine loss conditions.
One of the most important mission objectives was payload deployment validation, and Starship successfully released around 20 mock Starlink satellites along with two instrumented test payloads. These specialized units were designed to observe the vehicle during re-entry, including scanning and imaging the heat shield under real flight conditions.
After payload operations, the spacecraft entered its return phase, beginning re-entry over the Indian Ocean. During this stage, Starship was exposed to extreme aerodynamic heating and plasma formation around its flaps and forward structure. Even with reduced engine redundancy, it maintained attitude control through its aerodynamic surfaces and guidance systems. The vehicle then executed a controlled descent sequence that included manoeuvring through peak heating and preparing for terminal descent under limited propulsion capability.
The mission concluded with a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean, where the upper stage was intentionally not recovered as part of its experimental test profile. Despite the loss of the vehicle, it successfully survived key stress environments including ascent, spaceflight, payload deployment, and re-entry heating. The combination of successful subsystem validation and observed anomalies has made Flight 12 a mixed-success milestone. The mission was also closely watched as the Elon Musk-led firm is reportedly just weeks away from a potential SpaceX IPO.
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Ashutosh is a Senior Writer at The Tech Portal, largely reporting on new tech, and intersection of technology and business. Ashutosh’s career spans across nearly a decade of technology writing across multiple platforms and languages.
