SpaceX completes full static fire

A static fire is a launch rehearsal with the rocket bolted to the ground, and SpaceX says Starship Version 3 has now completed its first full-duration one. (spacex.com) Starship is the upper stage and spacecraft in SpaceX’s two-part system, while Super Heavy is the 33-engine booster underneath it. SpaceX lists the full stack at 123 meters tall, with Starship itself powered by six Raptor engines and designed to carry cargo and crew to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond. (spacex.com) The Version 3 campaign started with Booster 19, the first Version 3 Super Heavy, at Pad 2 in South Texas on March 16, 2026. SpaceX said that first booster static fire used 10 engines and ended early because of a ground-side issue. (space.com) SpaceX paired Booster 19 with Ship 39 for Starship Flight 12, the first planned flight of a Version 3 vehicle. SpaceX’s launch page for Flight 12 is already live, signaling that the company is treating the mission as the next step in the test program. (space.com, spacex.com) The latest static fire matters because Starship has to prove its engines, plumbing and ground systems can run for the full planned burn before it flies. SpaceX used the same test-before-flight approach on earlier vehicles, including Flight 9 on May 27, 2025, when the booster completed a full-duration ascent burn after liftoff from Starbase. (spacex.com, spacex.com) SpaceX is building Starship as a fully reusable system, which means both the ship and booster are meant to fly again instead of being discarded after one mission. On its vehicle page, the company says the system is designed to carry 100 to 150 metric tons fully reusable, a scale it pitches for satellite launches, lunar cargo and later Mars missions. (spacex.com) The program also sits inside NASA’s Artemis plans. NASA says SpaceX is developing a Starship-based Human Landing System to carry astronauts from lunar orbit to the Moon’s surface and back for Artemis III and Artemis IV. (nasa.gov, nasa.gov) Before any Starship flight, SpaceX still needs Federal Aviation Administration approval for the mission license or a license modification. The Federal Aviation Administration says environmental review is only one part of that process, and that safety, risk and financial reviews also have to be completed before a launch determination. (faa.gov, permits.performance.gov) The immediate next test is no longer about whether Version 3 can light its engines on the pad. It is about whether SpaceX can turn that ground run into Flight 12, with Ship 39 and Booster 19 carrying the first Version 3 launch attempt off the Texas coast. (spacex.com, space.com)