SpaceX Starship first 2026 flight test

SpaceX has set May 19 for the next flight of Starship, ending a gap of more than seven months without a test of the company’s flagship launch system. The company said on its launch page that the twelfth Starship flight test is preparing to lift off “as soon as Tuesday, May 19” from Starbase in Texas, with a launch window opening at 5:30 p.m. Central time. The mission would be SpaceX’s first Starship test of 2026. It also comes days after NASA and SpaceX targeted May 15 for the CRS-34 Dragon cargo launch to the International Space Station, another reminder of how much of the company’s launch calendar now sits alongside government work. ### When is the next Starship launch, exactly? SpaceX posted May 19, 2026, as the target date for Starship’s twelfth flight test and said the schedule remains subject to change. The company said a live webcast would begin about 45 minutes before liftoff and directed viewers to its website and X account for updates. The May 19 target is more specific than earlier public reporting that said only that SpaceX was preparing its first Starship launch of 2026. (spacex.com) As of May 16, the company’s own launch page lists a date and time window, rather than only the year. ### What is SpaceX trying to test on this flight? Flight 12 will debut “the next generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles,” SpaceX said, along with a new version of its Raptor engine and a newly designed launch pad at Starbase. (spacex.com) The company said the main goal is to test those redesigns in flight as it works toward full and rapid reuse. The booster is slated to attempt launch, stage separation, boostback burn and landing burn at an offshore point in the Gulf of America. SpaceX said the booster will not try to return to the launch site for a catch because this is the first flight of a significantly redesigned vehicle. The upper stage is set to carry out several in-space tests. (spacex.com) SpaceX said those include deploying 20 Starlink simulators and two modified Starlink satellites, relighting one Raptor engine in space, and gathering imagery of the heat shield. The company also said one heat-shield tile has been intentionally removed to measure loads on adjacent tiles during reentry. ### How does this connect to NASA’s Artemis program? NASA said on May 13 that Artemis III is now planned as a 2027 mission in Earth orbit to test rendezvous and docking between Orion and commercial landers from SpaceX and Blue Origin. The agency said the mission is intended to reduce risk ahead of Artemis IV, which NASA described as the next mission aimed at landing Americans on the Moon. (spacex.com) Jeremy Parsons, Moon to Mars acting assistant deputy administrator at NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said Artemis III would require NASA to coordinate “multiple spacecraft integrating new capabilities into Artemis operations.” NASA said those operations would involve hardware and teams from both lander providers before astronauts head to the lunar surface. (nasa.gov) SpaceX says its Human Landing System version of Starship is designed to land astronauts near the lunar South Pole under NASA’s Artemis missions. On its Moon program page, the company says the lunar variant relies on on-orbit refilling and removes hardware needed for Earth recovery, including a full heat shield and flaps. ### Why does this Starship test matter to that lunar work? (nasa.gov) SpaceX’s public description of Starship ties the base vehicle directly to the lunar lander program because the HLS version is built on the core Starship system. The company says tanker vehicles, depot variants and docking capability are part of the architecture needed to support Moon missions. (spacex.com) NASA’s Artemis III mission plan also makes docking performance a near-term requirement. The agency said Orion will test rendezvous and docking capabilities in low Earth orbit with one or both commercial landers, putting attention on the systems SpaceX is still developing and flying in the Starship test program. That link is an inference from NASA’s mission description and SpaceX’s vehicle architecture pages, both of which describe those capabilities as necessary parts of future lunar operations. (spacex.com) ### What should readers watch next? May 19 is the next concrete date on the calendar. SpaceX said the webcast for Flight 12 will begin about 45 minutes before the opening of the 5:30 p.m. Central launch window, and NASA has said Artemis III mission specifics and crew details will be announced closer to the 2027 launch. (spacex.com) (nasa.gov)