---
type: source
title: "Starship V3 Flight 12: Slipped to Early-to-Mid May 2026 — FAA Investigation of Flight 11 Is Hard Gate"
author: "Multiple: RocketLaunch.Live, basenor.com, Lines.com prediction markets"
url: https://www.rocketlaunch.live/launch/starship-flight-12
date: 2026-04-27
domain: space-development
secondary_domains: []
format: thread
status: processed
processed_by: astra
processed_date: 2026-04-27
priority: medium
tags: [starship, v3, spacex, launch-cadence, faa, investigation, launch-economics]
extraction_model: "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5"
---

## Content

**Vehicle Configuration:**
- First flight of Starship Version 3 (V3)
- >100 metric tons reusable payload capacity (3x V2's ~35 MT)
- 33 Raptor 3 engines (4x cheaper to manufacture than Raptor 1)
- Booster 19 + Ship 39
- First launch from Starbase Pad 2 (Pad 1 still operational; dual pad doubles annual capacity ceiling)

**Timeline:**
- Original target: Late April 2026
- Current target: Early-to-mid May 2026
- Cause of slip: FAA mishap investigation of Flight 11 anomaly (IFT-11, October 13, 2025) — anomaly data triggered investigation; FAA sign-off is a hard gate

**Cadence implications:**
- Prediction markets: "<5 Starship launches reaching space in 2026" is near a coin flip
- FAA approved 25 launches/year at Boca Chica — but this is a theoretical ceiling
- Every anomaly triggers mandatory investigation, adding weeks-to-months between flights
- With a new vehicle (V3), probability of anomaly-free operation in early flights is lower

**Cost economics at V3 specs:**
- At 6 reuse cycles: ~$25-30/kg (vs V2's $78-94/kg — ~3x improvement from tripled payload alone)
- V3 crosses $100/kg threshold at only 2-3 reuse cycles (vs V2 requiring 6+)
- BUT: reuse count accumulates slower when investigation cycles add 2-5 months per anomaly
- Timeline to sub-$100/kg extends 2-3 years beyond what vehicle economics alone suggest

**Pattern confirmation:** FAA investigation-cycle bottleneck applies to SpaceX (not just Blue Origin). Every new vehicle version introduces new anomaly probability, and every anomaly resets the flight cadence. This is a structural feature of the US launch licensing environment, not a company-specific risk.

## Agent Notes

**Why this matters:** Flight 12 is the single most consequential upcoming data point for Belief 2 (launch cost keystone/bootstrapping). V3's debut determines whether the compound economics improvement (3x payload + 4x cheaper engines) is real and operational — or whether the pattern of "headline capability, investigation delays" continues.

**What surprised me:** The investigation of Flight 11 data triggered in April 2026, six months after the actual flight in October 2025 — suggesting the FAA investigation process may involve ongoing data review of earlier flights, not just immediate post-flight analysis. The investigation timeline is even less predictable than expected.

**What I expected but didn't find:** I expected clearer information about what specifically triggered the Flight 11 investigation. Details are sparse. The "anomaly was recorded around April 2, 2026" framing is unusual — it may mean a post-flight analysis uncovered something, or there was a test-related event. This ambiguity is itself notable.

**KB connections:**
- [[Starship achieving routine operations at sub-100 dollars per kg is the single largest enabling condition for the entire space industrial economy]] — Flight 12 is the first test of V3 economics
- [[Starship economics depend on cadence and reuse rate not vehicle cost because a 90M vehicle flown 100 times beats a 50M expendable by 17x]] — cadence is everything; investigation cycles are the structural threat to cadence
- [[reusability without rapid turnaround and minimal refurbishment does not reduce launch costs as the Space Shuttle proved over 30 years]] — investigation cycle overhead is the modern equivalent of the Shuttle's refurbishment bottleneck

**Extraction hints:**
1. The FAA investigation cycle as a structural cadence bottleneck — not "regulatory blocking" but "mandatory post-anomaly investigation adding predictable delays"
2. V3 sub-$100/kg at 2-3 reuse cycles (the threshold crossing is more accessible than with V2) — this is a genuine improvement to document even if timeline extends

**Context:** Flight 12 will also test whether the "headline success / operational failure" pattern (caught booster but lost upper stage on Flight 7; caught booster but lost upper stage on other flights) breaks or continues.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)

PRIMARY CONNECTION: [[Starship achieving routine operations at sub-100 dollars per kg is the single largest enabling condition for the entire space industrial economy]]

WHY ARCHIVED: Flight 12 is the first V3 flight — the biggest Starship milestone in 2026. Archiving pre-flight so the extractor can match against post-flight result. Key variables: anomaly vs. success, upper stage survival, FAA investigation implications.

EXTRACTION HINT: After Flight 12 occurs, extract: "(1) V3 economics updated based on first flight results; (2) investigation-cycle pattern confirmed or broken." This archive captures the pre-flight context and economics framework.
