Starship set for 1st 2026 flight test. Inside critical SpaceX launch - Yahoo

The world's largest rocket is back, and the stakes are higher than ever. Here's everything to know about SpaceX's next Starship launch.

SpaceX is on the cusp of launching its gargantuan Starship rocket for the first time in 2026.

The upcoming flight test, scheduled for May 19, would mark the 12th overall launch of the world's largest rocket since April 2023 and the first since October 2025.

For SpaceX – the commercial spaceflight company that billionaire Elon Musk founded in 2002 – much is riding on the mission.

For one, the new-and-improved Starship that is stacked and ready on the launch pad at the company's headquarters in South Texas is the largest rocket SpaceX has ever built. And for another, the impending liftoff comes as SpaceX races to have a lunar lander configuration of Starship ready for astronaut moon landings under NASA's Artemis campaign.

Here's everything to know about the next Starship launch, which SpaceX refers to as flight 12.

Starship: 3 years since 1st Starship launch, SpaceX eyes new chapter for rocket

When is the Starship launch date?

SpaceX is working toward a Tuesday, May 19 launch of its Starship rocket, the company announced. The launch window is due to open at 6:30 p.m. ET, with the massive rocket getting off the ground from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.

SpaceX to debut Version 3 of Starship. What is it?

The next Starship to launch will be the largest and most powerful version that SpaceX has ever built.

Both the Super Heavy booster and the upper stage, sometimes simply referred to as "Ship," underwent significant upgrades in preparation for launch, SpaceX said in a lengthy post on its website.

If all goes to plan, Version 3 of Starship could be the model to finally reach orbit and also refuel its upper stage midflight during an orbital fuel transfer process with another Starship vehicle. The capability is necessary for Starship to reach the moon and transport humans deeper into space.

What is Starship? How tall is megarocket?

Standing at approximately 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the third-generation rocket is about 4 feet taller than its predecessor and more powerful than any iteration of the rocket that has launched to date.

Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. Powered by 33 of SpaceX's Raptor-class engines, the booster provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff, while the vehicle is where the crew and cargo would ride in orbit after the stages separate.

What is SpaceX planning for flight 12?

The main objective of the flight test, as SpaceX explained online, is simply to test both new pieces of hardware "in the flight environment for the first time."

Once again, SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster and, for that reason, will not attempt to return and land it back at the launch site – as was last accomplished in March 2025. Instead, the booster is due to land in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America.

The upper stage, meanwhile, will attempt to deploy 22 mock versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites as the company intends to intentionally test the limits of its capabilities. SpaceX is still working toward having an upper stage capable of returning to the launch site.

Starship to launch from upgraded launch pad at Starbase

For the upcoming mission, Starship will get off the ground from a completely new launch pad at Starbase.