US EditionSpaceX fires up next-gen 'V3' Starship for 1st time ahead of April launch
SpaceX briefly fired 10 Raptor 3 engines on Booster 19 at Starbase Pad 2, marking the first static fire for Starship V3 and doubling launch capacity, company said.
- On Monday, March 16, SpaceX conducted the first static fire test of Starship V3's Super Heavy booster, briefly igniting 10 Raptor engines while the vehicle remained anchored to Pad 2 at Starbase in South Texas.
- The activation campaign for the V3 vehicle and Starbase Pad 2 recently wrapped up, involving several days of cryogenic fuel and oxidizer loading tests on a booster for the first time.
- While the test successfully fired all installed Raptor engines, SpaceX revealed the burn "ended early due to a ground-side issue"; engineers will now inspect Booster 19 and install 23 additional engines for a full 33-engine static fire.
- SpaceX targets an April launch for Flight 12, the 12th-ever test of Starship V3, while Ship 39 will undergo its own static fire test at Starbase's Massey site.
- Equipped with upgraded Raptor 3 engines, the V3 variant targets over 100 tons of payload capacity to low Earth orbit, nearly triple the 35 tons of its predecessor and critical for SpaceX's Moon and Mars exploration objectives.
10 Articles
10 Articles
SpaceX’s Starship V3 is almost ready and it will change space travel forever
SpaceX is closing in on one of the most anticipated rocket launches in history, as the company readies for a planned April test launch and debut of its next-gen Starship V3 “Version 3”. The latest iteration of Starship V3 has a slightly taller Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage than their predecessors, and produce stronger, more efficient thrust using SpaceX’s upgraded Raptor 3 engines. V3 also features increased propellant capacity, t…
SpaceX Starship V3 Launch: Breakthrough Upgrades Power Future Missions
SpaceX is on the verge of another major milestone as it prepares to launch the next-generation Starship V3, a significantly upgraded version of the world’s most powerful rocket system. With a tentative launch window targeted for April 2026, the mission is expected to mark the 12th overall test flight to the Starship program and the […]
Starship Flight 12: Booster 19's 10-engine static fire ends abruptly, SpaceX prepares for a 33-engine static fire test
Elon Musk’s space exploration and commercial spaceflight company, SpaceX, fired a set of ten Raptor 3 engines on Starship’s Flight 12 Booster 19 on Monday. Live observers reported a shorter-than-expected duration of the Booster 19 static fire test. In an official update on X, SpaceX confirmed that the 10-engine static fire test was cut off early because of a ground-side (GSE) issue. However, SpaceX still seems satisfied with Raptor 3 firing duri…
The next flight of SpaceX's Starship rocket is getting better. Scheduled for early April, it will be an opportunity to test the new Starship V3 design for NASA's future Artemis missions.
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