Overview
- SpaceX, which set a target of Tuesday, May 19, for Flight 12, completed a full wet dress rehearsal Monday by loading more than 5,000 metric tonnes of propellant into the stacked rocket.
- The suborbital plan drops any tower‑catch attempts as the Super Heavy booster aims for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and the Starship upper stage heads toward the Indian Ocean after flight operations.
- Engineers will deploy 22 Starlink mass simulators from the upper stage, attempt a single engine relight in space, and image the vehicle’s heat shield using two of the deployables.
- SpaceX says Raptor 3 engines boost thrust to 250 tf at sea level and 275 tf in vacuum while cutting engine mass and simplifying systems, changes intended to support fast turnaround between flights.
- Beyond this launch, SpaceX says it is scouting U.S. and overseas sites for future Starship spaceports as it builds out new pads in Florida and scales production at Starbase to support a far higher flight rate.