SpaceX’s Starship V3 Debuts in High-Stakes Test Ahead of Moon Missions

SpaceX will launch its first Starship V3 megarocket from Starbase, Texas, on May 21 in a 90-minute window for a suborbital test—the 12th Starship flight overall. The new V3 features a bigger Super Heavy with 33 Raptors and a Ship with six Raptors, a three-grid-fin booster, a redesigned hot-stage attachment for reuse, and a redesigned propellant system. Ship also gains propulsion and reaction-control upgrades and a faster payload deployment system that will eject 20 dummy Starlinks and two live satellites with cameras to inspect the heat shield. The flight aims to demonstrate long-duration capability, in-space propellant transfer and rapid reuse, with Artemis moon missions (Artemis 4, targeted for 2028) on the horizon; a poor debut could affect SpaceX’s IPO timing or valuation, though Elon Musk says the production pipeline is full and the main risk would be loss of the launch stand.