A Tesla Cybertruck drives in front of the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne, California, U.S. on Monday, April 13, 2026.
Ethan Swope | Bloomberg | Getty Images
SpaceX launched its giant Starship rocket on Friday after a first attempt was aborted due to technical problems the day before.
The 90-minute launch window opened at 6:30 p.m. ET, and the flight took off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility in Texas.
The test flight of Starship V3, which features all the improved systems, is a significant event for SpaceX ahead of its public market debut after publishing an IPO prospectus earlier this week. Mr. Musk’s aerospace and defense company, which was valued at $1.25 billion in February when it merged with his artificial intelligence startup xAI, is expected to raise about $75 billion in an IPO next month.
SpaceX said in its IPO filing Wednesday that Starship is “designed to transport 100 metric tons into Earth’s orbit in a fully reusable configuration while enabling rapid turnaround times similar to commercial aviation.” This will be Starship’s 12th test flight.
Starship, the largest rocket ever built or flown, is also key to powering SpaceX’s Starlink wireless internet service business. The company said it plans to launch more satellites into orbit to expand its constellation and provide customers with strong wireless internet even in densely populated urban areas.
Last year, SpaceX launched more than 3,000 satellites on 122 Falcon 9 rocket missions. Starship can carry and release more satellites in a single trip than the smaller Falcon 9.
The system consists of a Starship upper stage vehicle, a super heavy booster, and a Raptor engine. The upper stage is fully reusable and is intended to carry large amounts of both cargo and people into space, and SpaceX plans to use it to land NASA astronauts on the moon in 2028.
Friday’s test flight will be SpaceX’s first for Starship in seven months, following an explosion and a series of other failures in early 2025 that disrupted air travel due to falling debris. The company is carrying mock Starlink satellites during test flights, but not astronauts or customer cargo.
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