SpaceX runs Starship Flight 12 coverage

SpaceX spent May 21 and May 22 turning Starship Flight 12 into a live, closely watched test campaign rather than a single countdown. The company scrubbed an initial launch attempt on Thursday and, by Friday, said it was preparing to try again from Starbase in South Texas. Multiple YouTube channels carried live coverage around the test, including streams labeled “SpaceX Starship Rocket Launch & Test Flight” and “LIVE: SpaceX Starship Flight 12 launch.” SpaceX’s own mission page said the Friday launch window would open at 5:30 p.m. Central time and last 90 minutes. ### Why did Flight 12 draw so much attention before liftoff? May 22 was set to be the first flight of SpaceX’s Version 3 Starship and Super Heavy vehicles, according to the company’s mission page and Starship update. SpaceX said the test would also be the first launch from a newly designed pad at Starbase, making the mission a debut for the upgraded rocket, the revised launch infrastructure and the latest Raptor engine evolution. (spaceflightnow.com) YouTube listings and live-coverage pages showed broad interest beyond SpaceX’s own channels. NASASpaceflight was running a dedicated “Starship Flight 12 - LAUNCH STREAM,” while other outlets and creators posted separate live feeds around the same event window. The clustering of streams across May 20 to May 22 reflected repeated schedule changes and sustained public interest in the test. (spacex.com) ### What exactly was SpaceX trying to test on this flight? SpaceX said Flight 12’s primary goal was to fly “the next generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles” in the flight environment for the first time. The company listed booster objectives that included launch, ascent, stage separation, a boostback burn and a landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. Because this was the first test of a significantly redesigned booster, SpaceX said it would not attempt a return-to-launch-site catch. (youtube.com) The upper-stage plan was more complex. SpaceX said Starship would attempt to deploy 20 Starlink simulators and two modified Starlink satellites, relight a single Raptor engine in space, and carry out reentry tests involving its heat shield and flap structure. The two modified satellites were intended to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery to operators, while one heat-shield tile was intentionally removed to gather data on loads affecting adjacent tiles. (spacex.com) ### What happened to the first launch attempt? May 21 ended without a liftoff. Spaceflight Now reported that SpaceX scrubbed the planned Flight 12 launch attempt on Thursday, and Florida Today’s live coverage also described the first attempt as a scrub. By Friday, SpaceX’s mission page had reset the target to May 22. (spacex.com) SpaceX’s mission page said developmental test schedules are “dynamic and likely to change.” That language appeared alongside the updated Friday window, and outside coverage on Friday described the mission as moving ahead after a launch scrub the previous day. ### What changed on Starship V3? SpaceX’s May 12 update outlined major hardware changes for Version 3. (spaceflightnow.com) The company said Super Heavy now uses three larger grid fins instead of four, has a redesigned fuel transfer system for its 33 Raptor engines, and incorporates changes to thermal protection and hot-staging hardware. Next Spaceflight listed Flight 12 as the first flight of Ship 39 and Booster 19 from Pad 2 at Starbase. (spacex.com) That listing also described the mission as the first test flight of Version 3 hardware for both stages, matching SpaceX’s description of a broad redesign rather than an incremental tweak. ### Where could viewers follow the next step? SpaceX said on May 22 that its live webcast would begin about 45 minutes before liftoff and would run on the company site and on X. (spacex.com) The company’s mission page listed a 5:30 p.m. Central opening for the launch window, while third-party live streams remained active as the countdown reset around Flight 12. (spacex.com) (nextspaceflight.com)