It’s been a week since SpaceX launched the massive Starship rocket for the 11th time in a flight test widely considered a success.
The Super Heavy first stage – the most powerful booster ever built – carried the upper stage spacecraft into space before returning to Earth and making a controlled landing off the coast of Texas.
The ship flew for about another hour before landing smoothly in the Indian Ocean.
The 11th flight marked the final use of the so-called “Block 2” version of the Super Heavy, with SpaceX engineers now turning their attention to the first launch of Block 3, a similar-looking booster with increased thrust and payload capacity, structural improvements that include modifications to the grid fins, and system upgrades aimed at improving performance and reusability for missions longer.
When fully stacked, the entire vehicle will also be a bit taller, going from 123.3 meters to 124.4 meters.
This is an important and vital upgrade for SpaceX’s Starship program. Indeed, Block 3 is the version that should serve as the first operational spacecraft capable of carrying out missions to other celestial bodies.
Indeed, it is the Block 3 version of the Super Heavy that could potentially power a modified version of the Ship to the Moon as part of the highly anticipated Artemis III mission, which is currently planned for no earlier than 2027. However, further modifications will be made to the rocket, so it is possible that a later version will also be used.
Artemis III will involve the first crewed lunar landing since the last Apollo mission in 1972. The crew will not, however, fly into lunar orbit aboard the ship, but will instead launch into NASA’s Orion capsule aboard the SLS rocket before being transferred to the ship for descent to the lunar surface.
A successful 12th flight will be a big boost for SpaceX as it strives to meet the deadline, even if it promises to be difficult.
The company has yet to reveal a target date for the 12th flight, and while there has been speculation that it would take place before the end of this year, early 2026 seems more likely.
Next year, SpaceX wants to launch Starship once every two weeks from its Starbase site in South Texas, as well as from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where it is completing the infrastructure needed to handle additional Starship missions.
