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    SpaceX Starship

    Also known as Starship, Super Heavy, Starship HLS

    Starship is SpaceX's two-stage rocket, about 124 meters tall, designed so that both the Super Heavy booster and the Ship upper stage can be flown again, and able to lift more than 100 metric tons to orbit.[1] It reached orbit for the first time on September 28, 2026, and a lunar version is NASA's lander for Artemis, which depends on refuelling in orbit.[2][3]

    Editor reviewedUpdated Space exploration and astronomySpaceScience
    Key facts

    What it is

    Starship is a two-stage launch system: a Super Heavy booster and an upper stage called Ship. Together they stand about 124 meters tall and can lift more than 100 metric tons to Earth orbit, and both stages are designed for full and rapid reuse.[1] Both stages use SpaceX’s Raptor engines, which burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane.[4] The design matters because reusing the upper stage, not just the booster, is the step that could cut launch costs most; why that is hard is explained in how rockets reach orbit.

    Flight test record

    Starship’s first integrated flight took place on April 20, 2023, and Flight 11 on October 13, 2025 was the last test of the vehicle’s second version.[5] The third version, larger and able to deploy satellites, began flying in 2026.[6]

    Flight 12, May 22, 2026. The first Version 3 vehicle lifted off from a newly completed second pad at Starbase, Texas, on the first Starship flight since October 2025.[7] One booster engine shut down at liftoff, and Super Heavy failed to complete its boostback burn and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. The Ship also lost one of its six engines but reached space on the other five. It released 22 payloads, mostly dummy Starlink satellites, but skipped a planned in-space engine relight because of the lost engine.[8]

    Flight 13, July 24, 2026. The Ship deployed 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites on a suborbital path, so they re-entered as planned. It then relit one Raptor engine in space and made what SpaceX called its softest splashdown yet in the Indian Ocean, floating intact afterwards. The booster hit the Gulf harder than planned because only five of the 13 engines needed for its landing burn fired.[9]

    Flight 14, September 28, 2026. On the third V3 launch, Starship reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 Starlink satellites.[2][6] The flight was not clean. One of the Ship’s six engines failed during ascent, and a SpaceX spokesperson briefly announced that the orbital attempt was off before controllers decided to press on.[2][10] The Super Heavy booster made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.[6]

    The Moon lander and orbital refuelling

    NASA chose a lunar version of Starship as a crewed lander for Artemis, and SpaceX plans three variants for the job: a lander, a tanker and a propellant storage depot.[4] Before a landing, SpaceX would launch the depot to low Earth orbit and then more than 10 tanker flights, beginning more than 200 days before the crew launches and aiming for one tanker every six days.[3]

    That makes in-orbit propellant transfer the key unproven technology. SpaceX moved propellant between two tanks inside a single Starship on Flight 3 in March 2024, and as of March 2026 planned a ship-to-ship transfer demonstration during 2026 using the third version of the vehicle.[11][12] By late September 2026 it had still not moved propellant between two vehicles.[13] How many tanker flights a landing needs is uncertain: published estimates range from about eight to 15 or 20.[14] NASA’s Inspector General found that SpaceX’s lander would not be ready for a June 2027 landing, a finding that preceded NASA’s decision to turn Artemis III into an Earth-orbit test.[15][16]

    What to watch

    The next milestones are repeat orbital flights, a ship-to-ship propellant transfer, and docking tests with Orion on Artemis III in 2027.[12][16] Elon Musk has said SpaceX may try to catch a returning Ship with the launch tower on Flight 15, which planning documents put no earlier than October 19, 2026. SpaceX is also building three Starship pads in Florida, so the rocket would no longer fly only from Texas.[13] See artemis-program for the mission schedule and the space exploration tracker for the latest flights.

    Questions readers ask

    Has Starship reached orbit?

    Yes. On its 14th test flight, on September 28, 2026, Starship reached orbit for the first time and deployed 26 Starlink satellites.[2]

    Why does the Starship Moon lander need so many launches?

    Starship arrives in orbit nearly empty, so SpaceX plans a propellant depot filled by more than 10 tanker flights before each lunar landing.[3]

    Has SpaceX transferred propellant between two Starships?

    Not as of late September 2026. It moved propellant between tanks inside one Starship in 2024 and had planned a ship-to-ship demonstration during 2026.[11][12][13]

    What happened on Starship's 2026 test flights?

    Flight 12 (May 22) debuted Version 3 but lost its booster; Flight 13 (July 24) deployed Starlink V3 satellites and the Ship floated intact after splashdown; Flight 14 (September 28) reached orbit.[8][9][2]

    Sources

    Each numbered claim is a statement we checked against the sources listed with it. Status shows how well established it is.

    1. [1]

      Starship stands about 124 meters tall, can lift more than 100 metric tons to Earth orbit, and both its Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable. confirmedas of 2026-09-28

    2. [2]

      On September 28, 2026, Starship reached orbit for the first time on its 14th test flight and deployed 26 Starlink satellites, despite one of the Ship's six engines failing during ascent. confirmedas of 2026-09-28

    3. [3]

      SpaceX's lunar lander plan requires launching a propellant storage depot to low Earth orbit followed by more than 10 Starship tanker flights, starting more than 200 days before crew launch. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    4. [4]

      Starship and Super Heavy use Raptor engines that burn liquid oxygen and liquid methane, and SpaceX plans lander, tanker and depot versions of Starship for Artemis. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    5. [5]

      Starship's first integrated flight was on April 20, 2023, and Flight 11 on October 13, 2025 was the final test of the second version of the vehicle. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    6. [6]

      Flight 14 was the third Starship launch of the vehicle's Version 3, and its Super Heavy booster made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. confirmedas of 2026-09-28

    7. [7]

      On May 22, 2026, SpaceX launched Starship Flight 12, the first flight of Starship Version 3 and the first Starship mission since October 2025, from a newly completed second pad at Starbase, Texas. confirmedas of 2026-05-23

    8. [8]

      On Flight 12 a Super Heavy engine shut down at liftoff, the booster failed to complete its boostback burn and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico, and the Ship lost one of its six engines but reached space, deployed 22 payloads (20 dummy Starlink satellites and two camera-equipped Starlinks), skipped a planned in-space engine relight and made its planned ocean landing. confirmedas of 2026-05-23

    9. [9]

      On July 24, 2026, Starship Flight 13 deployed 20 Starlink Version 3 satellites on a suborbital path (they re-entered as planned), relit one of the Ship's Raptor engines in space, and made a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, where the Ship floated intact for the first time; the booster hit the Gulf of Mexico harder than planned after only five of 13 engines fired for its landing burn. confirmedas of 2026-07-25

    10. [10]

      During Flight 14, after one of the Ship's engines went out at liftoff, a SpaceX spokesperson briefly announced that the orbital attempt was called off before flight controllers decided to press ahead. confirmedas of 2026-09-28

    11. [11]

      On Flight 3 in March 2024, SpaceX completed an in-space propellant transfer demonstration between two tanks inside one Starship. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    12. [12]

      As of March 2026, SpaceX planned a ship-to-ship propellant transfer demonstration in 2026 using the third version of Starship. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    13. [13]

      As of September 29, 2026, SpaceX had not yet transferred propellant between two vehicles in space; Elon Musk had said SpaceX may try to catch a Ship with the launch tower on Flight 15, provisionally no earlier than October 19, and SpaceX was building three Starship pads in Florida. reportedas of 2026-09-29

    14. [14]

      Estimates of the number of tanker flights needed for each Starship lunar landing range from about eight to 15 or 20. reportedas of 2026-09-29

    15. [15]

      NASA's Inspector General found in March 2026 that the SpaceX and Blue Origin lander contracts had grown by only 6 percent and less than 1 percent respectively, but that both companies had schedule delays and SpaceX's lander would not be ready for a June 2027 lunar landing. confirmedas of 2026-03-10

    16. [16]

      On February 27, 2026, NASA changed Artemis III into a 2027 crewed mission in low Earth orbit to test rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial lunar landers, ahead of a first landing on Artemis IV in 2028. confirmedas of 2026-02-27

    Revision history (2)
    1. Page created.
    2. Added Flights 12 and 13, the post-Flight 14 outlook (Ship catch, Florida pads, propellant transfer status) and tanker-count estimates.

    Created Oct 10, 2026. Last reviewed by an editor on Oct 10, 2026. Next scheduled review: Nov 10, 2026.

    Cite this page

    "SpaceX Starship." ContentLora, updated Oct 10, 2026. https://contentlora.com/wiki/spacex-starship

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