Video analysis breaks down what worked — and what failed — on Starship Flight 12's subsystems

A May 22 YouTube video dissected SpaceX’s Starship Flight 12 by stepping through ascent, engine performance, payload deployment and recovery attempts against the mission timeline shown in flight footage. The review, posted under the title “We Finally Got a Starship Launch! What went right, what went wrong!,” focused on which milestones appeared to complete and where visible anomalies began. SpaceX’s own Flight 12 update described a mixed result: the upper stage reached its planned trajectory and deployed payloads, while the booster failed to complete its return sequence. The video landed a day after Flight 12 lifted off from Starbase, Texas at 5:30 p.m. Central time on May 22, according to SpaceX. That flight was the first outing for Starship and Super Heavy V3, the first use of Raptor 3 engines in flight, and the first Starship launch from Pad 2, SpaceX said. ### Which parts of ascent did the video say looked nominal? SpaceX said Super Heavy ignited all 33 Raptor 3 engines at liftoff and completed first-stage ascent before hot-staging. (spacex.com) The company also said a single booster engine shut down during ascent, but stage separation still occurred and the upper stage lit its six engines to continue toward space. The analyst’s frame-by-frame review tracks that same sequence as the point where Flight 12 appeared to meet its core launch objectives. (spacex.com) In practice, that means the video treats pad departure, max-Q, main engine cutoff and hot-staging as completed events rather than disputed ones, using the onboard display and webcast imagery as evidence. The uploaded video is the source of that breakdown, while SpaceX’s mission page provides the matching official sequence. ### Where did the booster recovery attempt begin to break down? SpaceX said the Super Heavy booster “was unable to light all planned engines” for its boostback burn and instead performed a partial burn that ended early. The company said the booster later attempted to reignite engines for landing, but experienced a hard splashdown in the Gulf of America. Next Spaceflight, which summarized the same mission profile, said Super Heavy “failed to properly ignite” for boostback and then crash-landed in the ocean after a downrange landing attempt. (spacex.com) The analyst’s video centers much of its subsystem discussion on that failed transition from separation to recovery, using the visible engine-light pattern and descent footage to mark the booster as the clearest shortfall in Flight 12. ### What did the upper stage appear to accomplish despite engine losses? SpaceX said Starship lost one Raptor 3 vacuum engine during ascent but still demonstrated engine-out capability and achieved its planned trajectory. During coast, the company said, the ship deployed all 20 Starlink simulators and two modified Starlink satellites designed to image Starship in space. Next Spaceflight said an in-space relight planned for the mission was canceled. (nextspaceflight.com) The analyst’s review treats that distinction as important: payload deployment and reentry data collection appear to have been completed, while at least one planned propulsion test in space did not occur. ### What did the review say about reentry and landing data? SpaceX said Starship gathered heatshield and structural data during reentry, then performed a rear-flap stress maneuver and a banking move meant to mimic future returns to Starbase. (spacex.com) The company said the ship guided itself to the planned Indian Ocean splashdown zone and executed a landing flip, landing burn and splashdown on two Raptor engines. (nextspaceflight.com) The analyst’s video uses those late-flight moments to separate “mission completed” from “fully nominal.” The review tracks flap behavior, attitude control and the final burn sequence through the available footage, with the video description providing timestamps for each segment of the breakdown. SpaceX’s mission page and the posted video remain the main public references for any follow-up parsing of Flight 12’s subsystem performance. (spacex.com)