Starship

The programme’s roots lie in interplanetary-transport designs SpaceX began presenting in the mid-2010s. It introduced ITS in 2016, the smaller BFR a year later, and the architecture under the Starship name in 2018. The core idea did not change: a large steel upper stage would act in orbit as cargo ship, tanker, habitable volume, and lunar lander, while Super Heavy would repeatedly accelerate it from Earth. Dimensions, engines, materials, engine count, and return methods did change. The switch from carbon composites to stainless steel enabled cheaper, faster prototypes at Starbase.

The first tangible test article was Starhopper — a squat, rough-looking demonstrator with one Raptor engine. In 2019 it performed short static-fire and altitude flights, validating basic methane-and-liquid-oxygen engine control. More complete ships SN8 through SN15 followed. Their high-altitude flights tested ascent, transfer into landing tanks, the aerodynamic belly-flop, flip maneuver, and powered landing. SN8 and SN9 hit hard, SN10 exploded after landing, and SN11 was lost in cloud; in May 2021 SN15 first completed the profile and landed softly. The series showed why SpaceX builds many prototypes: each exposed a specific weakness before the move to an orbital stack.

On April 20, 2023, the full Starship and Super Heavy stack flew for the first time. The first integrated flight ended after multiple engine losses and activation of the flight-termination system, but it tested the pad, control of a 33-engine booster, and the behavior of the huge stack in real flight. The second flight introduced hot staging: upper-stage Starship lights its engines while Super Heavy is still firing, saving the mass of a conventional interstage. Later flights progressively pushed capabilities from speed and return through payload-door tests, in-space engine relights, and atmospheric entry to more accurate landing maneuvers.

A turning point came on Flight 5 on October 13, 2024. On return to the pad, Super Heavy performed a landing burn and the tower caught it with mechanical arms. This is not merely a spectacular substitute for landing legs: catching is intended to return the booster directly to its servicing position and reduce dead mass. The upper stage on the same flight completed a controlled return to the Indian Ocean. Later tests also showed that reusability is not one maneuver. Routine operation requires repeatable reliability of engines, thermal protection, flaps, tanks, communications, pad, and the catch itself.

Starship uses methalox propellant — liquid methane and liquid oxygen — and Raptor engines using a full-flow staged-combustion cycle. Super Heavy V3 has 33 Raptor 3 engines; upper-stage Starship has six, combining atmospheric and vacuum engines. Stainless steel handles cryogenic temperatures and high thermal loads well, but return is chiefly protected by thousands of ceramic tiles on the ship’s belly. Four flaps steer the vehicle during hypersonic descent. Starship is therefore not a conventional multistage rocket with a separate capsule: its upper stage must be a fast stage, spacecraft, payload bay, and return vehicle at the same time.

V3, which debuted on Flight 12 in May 2026, carries lessons from previous flights into a new design. SpaceX cites stronger, simplified Raptor 3 engines, redesigned grid fins, an integrated hot stage, the new Pad 2, and systems for long stays in space. These include improved handling of cryogenic propellants, docking fittings, and connections for ship-to-ship transfer. On 28 September 2026 Flight 14 first entered Earth orbit and deployed 26 Starlink V3 satellites. An early vacuum Raptor shutdown led to a shorter orbital stay; the ship performed a deorbit burn and controlled northern Pacific splashdown. Orbital payload delivery is demonstrated, while full and rapid reuse of both stages remains a development objective.

The long-term plan has several linked layers. The nearest practical use is deploying large batches of Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. For the Moon, SpaceX envisages tanker Starships, a depot, and the lunar Starship HLS; several tankers would first fuel a ship that then departs for the Moon. NASA selected HLS for Artemis, but this chain still requires demonstrating orbital transfer, long-duration storage of cryogenic propellant, and safe operations. Mars is a more distant target: it would require hundreds of tonnes of cargo, repeated orbital refueling, entry into the Martian atmosphere, and producing return propellant on site. These are plans, not finished capabilities — which is exactly why today’s flight tests matter.