Starship

📷 Steve Jurvetson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)

Facts summary and sources

Starship: a secondary compilation of public information. Specifications from different Starship generations are not interchangeable. SpaceX’s Flight 13 report supports the V3 flight-test milestone and engine counts below. Speed also depends on trajectory and mission phase.

This is a secondary compilation. A source-check date applies only to the listed claim, not to the whole page or its translation. A page update is not a source check.

Sources and check records

• SpaceX: Starship Flight 13 — SpaceX reports Starship Flight 13 on July 24, 2026. This is a verified milestone, not a claim that no later flight has occurred; specifications vary by version and mission. [Mission report] · Event date: 2026-07-24 · Source checked for this claim: 2026-09-28
• Wikipedia reference · Source-check date not recorded

Starship is SpaceX’s super heavy-lift launch system, combining the Super Heavy booster with the Starship upper stage. It is designed for full reuse; design capability and demonstrated recovery results are separate measures. Dimensions, thrust and payload targets vary by vehicle generation, so a single set of early-test figures should not be read as the specification for every Starship version.

Verified milestone: Flight 13, July 24, 2026. SpaceX reports that the second V3 flight deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites on a planned trajectory leading to reentry, relit a Raptor engine in space and achieved a controlled upper-stage splashdown. The booster had a hard splashdown. Those results demonstrate specific test objectives, not routine orbital service or recovery and reuse of both stages. SpaceX Flight 13 report.

Development History

SpaceX has pursued a giant Mars rocket under changing names since the mid-2010s. The stainless-steel Starship design took shape from 2019 at Starbase in South Texas, where prototypes flew increasingly ambitious hops — several ending in fireballs — until the SN15 prototype landed cleanly from 10 km altitude in May 2021.

The first full stack launched on 20 April 2023 and was destroyed after multiple engine failures, and later flights tested progressively more objectives, with both successes and failures. Through 2024 the program hit its stride: Flight 4 in June brought both stages down to controlled ocean splashdowns, and Flight 5 in October achieved the first tower catch of the Super Heavy booster.

2025 was a grind. Several upper-stage failures in the first half of the year slowed progress, though Flight 9 in May reflew a previously caught booster for the first time. Flight 10 in August 2025 then completed a full mission rehearsal, deploying Starlink simulator payloads and relighting a Raptor engine in space. NASA’s current Artemis III plan is a crewed test in low Earth orbit, including rendezvous and docking with one or both commercial lander test articles. Lunar landings are planned to begin with Artemis IV. NASA Artemis III mission plan.

Design & Capabilities

Both stages are stainless steel, chosen over carbon fiber for its low cost, strength at cryogenic temperatures and tolerance of reentry heat. The Super Heavy booster packs 33 Raptors — full-flow staged-combustion engines, the first of their kind to fly — burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen. The intended recovery method uses a return to the launch site and capture by the tower; catches have been demonstrated, but individual test flights can instead target splashdown.

The upper stage, itself called Starship, carries six Raptors and reenters belly-first behind thousands of ceramic heat-shield tiles before flipping upright to land. Published payload goals have changed with the design. A target for a fully reusable system is not a demonstrated payload delivery, and the applicable vehicle version and source date must accompany it. Large-scale propellant transfer is a separate capability needed for lunar and Mars mission plans.

Notable Missions

The April 2023 debut became the most powerful rocket launch in history the moment it cleared the pad, surpassing the Soviet N1. It also shattered the pad itself, hurling concrete chunks hundreds of meters and prompting SpaceX to build a water-cooled steel flame deflector for every flight since.

Flight 5 on 13 October 2024 delivered the program’s signature image: the returning booster easing into the tower’s waiting arms. Flight 9 in May 2025 proved a caught booster could fly again, and Flight 10 in August 2025 rehearsed a complete satellite-deployment mission. Flight 13 added a V3 payload-deployment test in July 2026. Propellant-transfer demonstrations, vehicle recovery and the Artemis lander programme remain separate milestones; completion of one does not establish completion of the others.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Starship the most powerful rocket ever?

Starship / Super Heavy is a super heavy-lift launch system with thrust exceeding earlier launch vehicles. Figures depend on the version: earlier 121 m and 74,000 kN figures should not be silently reused as current V3 specifications.

How much can Starship actually carry?

Payload capacity must be stated for a specific version and mission. Flight 13 deployed 20 Starlink V3 satellites on a trajectory intended to reenter; it did not establish a routinely delivered, fully reusable low-Earth-orbit payload capacity.

Why is Starship made of stainless steel?

Steel is cheap — a small fraction of carbon fiber’s price per kilogram — gets stronger at the cryogenic temperatures of its propellants, and tolerates far more heat during reentry, reducing the shielding needed. It is also easy to weld outdoors, which lets SpaceX build ships rapidly in tents and high bays at Starbase.

How does the booster catch work?

Instead of landing legs, the returning Super Heavy relights engines to slow its descent beside the launch tower, which grabs it with two huge steel arms nicknamed chopsticks, catching hardpoints near the grid fins. Skipping legs saves tonnes of weight, and setting the booster straight back on the pad enables faster reflights. It first worked in October 2024.

Sources for This Update

• SpaceX — Flight 13, July 24, 2026
• NASA — current Artemis III mission objectives
• NASA — Version 3 and the Starship HLS programme, July 31, 2026

Update scope: completed Flight 13 results, the distinction between targets and demonstrated capability, and the revised Artemis III mission role. Older historical material is retained.