SpaceX launches its biggest Starship yet on a test flight : NPR

SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket conducts a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026.

Eric Gay/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Eric Gay/AP

SpaceX launched its largest and most powerful spacecraft on a test flight Friday, an upgraded version that NASA is counting on to land astronauts on the Moon.

The redesigned mega-rocket debuted two days after SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he was taking the company public. It took off from the southern tip of Texas, carrying 20 fake Starlink satellites that were jettisoned halfway through the hour-long spaceflight that stretched halfway around the world.

The spacecraft reached its final destination – the Indian Ocean – despite some engine problems, before bursting into flames on impact. This last part was not unexpected, according to SpaceX.

Musk called it an “epic launch and landing.”

“You have scored a goal for humanity,” he told his team via X.

This is the 12th test flight of the rocket Musk is building to one day bring humans to Mars. But first comes the Moon and NASA’s Artemis program.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman came for the launch and said Starship is now getting closer to the Moon.

The last of the old spacecraft took off in October. SpaceX’s third-generation Starship – an upgraded version dubbed V3 – has lifted off from a brand new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute problems thwarted Thursday evening’s launch attempt.

SpaceX’s Starship mega-rocket conducts a test flight from Starbase, Texas, Friday, May 22, 2026.

Eric Gay/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Eric Gay/AP

SpaceX hoped to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year, when mid-flight explosions rained wreckage across the Atlantic. Previous flights also ended in flames.

There was no fireball this time until the very end. The spacecraft plunged vertically into the Indian Ocean under seemingly complete control, then overturned and burst into flames.

Although the liftoff itself went well, not all engines started when the booster attempted a controlled return. The spacecraft also had to make do with fewer engines, but continued heading east for a distance of 120 miles (194 kilometers). A pair of modified, camera-equipped Starlinks ejected from the Starship provided brief views of the spacecraft in flight – a remarkable first.

At 407 feet (124 meters), the latest model dwarfs older Starship lines by several feet (more than a meter) and offers more engine thrust.

The revamped booster features fewer but larger and stronger grid fins to bring it back to Earth after liftoff, as well as a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to power the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first stage booster. The retro-looking stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything – more cameras and more navigation and computer power – as well as docking cones for future lunar rendezvous and missions.

Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms on the launch pads to catch returning rocket stages. But during this last attempt, nothing was recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demonstrations.

NASA is paying billions of dollars to SpaceX — as well as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin — to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.

Both companies are fighting to be first.

While Starship has reached the edge of space on several flights of up to an hour, Bezos’ Blue Moon has yet to take off, although a prototype is being prepared for a shot at the moon later this year.

NASA is following four astronauts’ successful flyby of the Moon in April with a docking test in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For this Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon, or both.

A moon landing by two astronauts – Artemis IV – could follow as early as 2028 using Starship or Blue Moon, depending on which lander is safest and ready first. This will be NASA’s first crewed moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. The target this time is a lunar base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots.

SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the Moon and Mars on Starship.

The world’s first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up for a flight around the Moon three and a half years ago. The timing is uncertain.

This week, another wealthy space tourist – Chinese-born Bitcoin investor Chun Wang – announced that he would fly to Mars on Starship’s first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles.

No price or date has been revealed for its Mars cruise.