# Starship V3

**Type:** Launch vehicle (next-generation heavy-lift)
**Developer:** SpaceX
**Status:** Pre-flight (static fire testing complete as of April 2026)
**First flight:** Flight 12, targeting early May 2026
**Launch site:** Starbase Pad 2, Boca Chica, Texas

## Overview

Starship V3 is the third-generation design of SpaceX's fully reusable super heavy-lift launch system. It represents a clean-sheet redesign from V2, featuring Raptor 3 engines, increased propellant capacity, and targeting 100+ tonnes payload to LEO.

## Key Features

- **Raptor 3 engines:** Simplified design with no external plumbing, reducing failure points and manufacturing complexity
- **Increased propellant capacity:** Enables higher payload mass and mission flexibility
- **Target payload:** 100+ tonnes to LEO (up from V2's demonstrated capacity)
- **Super Heavy Booster 19:** 33 Raptor 3 engines
- **Ship 39:** Upper stage with Raptor 3 engines

## Development Status

V3 development appears more mature than V2 at equivalent milestones. Both Ship 39 and Booster 19 completed full-duration static fires without reported anomalies, contrasting with V2's multiple static fire issues during development.

## Infrastructure

Flight 12 will be the first Starship launch from Pad 2 at Starbase, SpaceX's second orbital launch complex. The two-pad configuration doubles potential launch cadence at Boca Chica.

## Timeline

- **2025-10-13** — Flight 11 (final V2 flight) completed with ocean splashdown
- **2026-04** — Ship 39 and Booster 19 complete full static fires
- **2026-05** (target) — Flight 12, first V3 launch from Pad 2

## Significance

V3 performance data will provide the first empirical validation of Starship's path toward sub-$100/kg launch costs. The Raptor 3 simplification and increased payload capacity are critical enablers for the reuse economics model underlying SpaceX's cost trajectory projections.

## Related Systems

- Starship V2 (predecessor)
- Raptor 3 engine
- Starbase Pad 2

## Sources

- NASASpaceFlight.com, April 2026