SpaceX Concludes Starship V2 Testing, Advances to V3 Development

SpaceX has successfully completed the final test flight of its Starship V2, marking a significant milestone in the spacecraft's development. The nearly 400-foot-tall rocket lifted off from Starbase, Texas, at 6:23 PM local time. The Super Heavy booster, reused from a March test, executed a new landing-burn profile, reigniting 13 engines before throttling down to five, and finally three for the final hover, culminating in a planned soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico approximately seven minutes after liftoff.

Concurrently, Starship's upper stage deployed eight mock Starlink satellite simulators, testing a new "dynamic banking maneuver" profile intended for future return-to-pad attempts at Starbase. The upper stage then splashed down in the Indian Ocean. This flight marked the final launch of the second-generation Starship and the first-generation Super Heavy variants. Engineers also experimented with the heat shield tiles on the upper stage, including selective removals and novel tile variations to gather reentry data.

SpaceX duplicated Flight 10's other key milestones: deploying simulators and relighting one of Starship's six Raptor engines on orbit. This test formally initiates the program's next phase: flying an upgraded prototype called V3, outfitted for in-orbit docking and propellant-transfer demonstrations, capabilities essential for missions to the Moon and Mars. V3 also incorporates structural changes and upgrades to the Raptor engine aimed at increasing lifting capacity, though specific figures were not disclosed.

"This next iteration will be used for the first Starship orbital flights, operational payload missions, propellant transfer, and more as we iterate to a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle with service to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars, and beyond," the company stated.

In parallel, SpaceX is upgrading Pad A at Starbase and shifting launches to Pad B. The company is also working to build dual Starship launch pads in Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Starship is the most powerful rocket ever developed and serves as the cornerstone of both NASA's Artemis campaign and SpaceX's plan to deploy higher-capacity Starlink satellites.

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy applauded the mission on X, stating it was "another major step toward landing Americans on the Moon's south pole."