SpaceX ends action-packed Starship V2 era as program moves to V3

Farewell V2: SpaceX sent Starship’s current configuration on a final test flight Monday evening, in a mission that the company says achieved all of its key objectives, moving the program into its next phase.

The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 6:23 p.m. local time. The Super Heavy booster, reused in a March test, tried a new landing burn profile, reigniting 13 engines before reducing them to five, and finally three for the final hover before making a planned soft water landing in the Gulf of Mexico about seven minutes after liftoff.

Meanwhile, Starship’s upper stage deployed eight simulated Starlink satellite simulators, testing a new “dynamic banking maneuver” profile that the company aims to use for future return-to-pad attempts at Starbase. The upper stage then landed in the Indian Ocean.

This marked the final launch of the second generation Starship and first generation Super Heavy variants. As with the previous test flight, engineers also experimented with the upper stage heat shield tiles, including selective removals and new tile variations to gather re-entry data.

SpaceX also replicated the other key milestones of Flight 10: the deployment of simulators and the re-ignition of one of Starship’s six Raptor engines in orbit.

Monday’s test officially launched the next phase of the program: flying an upgraded prototype called V3, equipped for orbital docking and propellant transfer demonstrations, essential capabilities for craft aiming to reach the Moon and Mars. SpaceX says the V3 also incorporates structural changes and upgrades to the Raptor engine aimed at increasing lift capacity, although the company hasn’t shared specific figures.

“This next iteration will be used for Starship’s first orbital flights, operational payload missions, propellant transfer, and more, as we transition to a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle with service to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond,” the company said.

At the same time, SpaceX is upgrading Starbase Pad A and moving launches to Pad B. The company is simultaneously working to build two Starship launch pads at Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Starship is the most powerful rocket ever developed. It is also the cornerstone of NASA’s Artemis campaign and SpaceX’s plan to begin deploying larger Starlink satellites.

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy applauded the mission to X, saying it was “another major step toward landing Americans on the Moon’s south pole.”

SpaceX has received more than $4 billion to develop a human-sized Starship variant, called the Human Landing System, for the crewed Artemis 3 mission currently planned for 2027. But to reach that date, SpaceX will first need to demonstrate increasingly complex steps, particularly orbital docking and propellant transfer into orbit.