Overview
- SpaceX launched Starship Version 3 — Booster 19 with Ship 39 — on May 22 from Starbase, Texas, in a test that combined dozens of hardware upgrades with an aggressive flight profile.
- During the boostback sequence the Super Heavy booster experienced multiple engine relight failures that produced an energetic event consistent with a Raptor explosion and forced an aborted boostback, and the booster later impacted the Gulf of Mexico and was lost.
- Ship 39 suffered an early vacuum-engine shutdown but compensated with longer burns, successfully deployed 20 Starlink V3 simulators and two camera‑equipped small satellites, and splashed down in the Indian Ocean after a controlled reentry.
- Post‑flight imagery and sensor views showed notably improved heat‑shield tile retention and minimal visible burn‑through on Ship 39, giving direct evidence that the V3 tile geometry and attachment changes worked better than on V2.
- The FAA is assessing the booster anomaly, SpaceX is processing large volumes of flight data to fix Raptor relight and boostback sequences, and the company says it plans Flight 13 in the coming months pending those technical and regulatory steps.