Starship Flight 12 was more than another launch: it was the first flight of the V3 generation, the first launch from Pad 2 and the first Raptor 3 test. The test combined several high-risk changes in one flight. Super Heavy attempted a boostback manoeuvre, the upper stage deployed camera-equipped satellite simulators, and both vehicles exercised new hardware and operations.
Mission by the numbers
- vehicle version
- V3configuration
- booster engines
- 33engines
- ship engines
- 6engines
- satellite simulators
- 22simulators
- flight duration
- 1:06:22h:mm:ss
Notable facts
- First flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 configuration.
- First launch from the second Starbase pad, Pad 2.
- 33 Raptor 3 engines on the booster and 6 engines on the ship.
- 22 modified Starlink satellite simulators deployed for flight imaging.
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Course of the flight
Starship lifts off from Starbase's Orbital Launch Pad 2, the first Block 3 flight.
Mission timeline
Select a phase to read what happened. Every chapter has its own detailed page.
Launch
Starship lifts off from Starbase's newly built Orbital Launch Pad 2 - the first flight of the upgraded Block 3 vehicles.
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Stage Separation
Hot-staging occurs at T+2:24; the Super Heavy booster begins its boostback burn while Starship continues toward its planned trajectory.
Read the chapter
Booster Loss
The booster flips abnormally fast for its boostback burn; most of its engines fail to relight, and it crashes into the Gulf of Mexico at high speed instead of returning to the launch site.
Read the chapterPayload Deployment and Reentry
Starship deploys 22 Starlink satellite simulators, then reenters the atmosphere, its heat shield performing as intended.
Read the chapterSplashdown
Starship makes a soft, controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia, completing a flight of just over an hour.
Read the chapterGallery
Starship — programme and adjacent flights
Article on the timeline
First flight of the Starship V3 architecture; the ship completed its flight and landed successfully, while the Super Heavy booster was lost after a failed boostback burn.
Open the entry →Sources & further reading
- Official mission page and image gallery; the included images are proprietary/Fair use.
- Public-domain contextual image of the Starship system photographed from orbit; not Flight 12.
- Public-domain aerial image of Pad 2 photographed before Flight 12.
- Context image from the earlier integrated Starship test; CC BY-SA 4.0, not Flight 12.
Spaceflightpedia. (n.d.). Starship Flight 12. Retrieved 9 October 2026, from https://spaceflightpedia.com/article/starship-flight-12
article text — CC-BY-SA · ◉ NASA photography — public domain · ✦ AI illustration — marked, generated from sources
