It\u2019s the 12th test flight of the rocket that Musk is building to get people to Mars one day. But first comes the moon and NASA\u2019s Artemis programme.<\/p>\n
The last of the old space-skimming Starships lifted off in October. SpaceX\u2019s third-generation Starship \u2014 a souped-up version dubbed V3 \u2014 soared from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, near the Mexican border. Last-minute pad issues thwarted Thursday evening’s (local time) launch attempt.<\/p>\n
![\"SpaceX's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/spacexs-mega-rocket-starship-is-prepared-for-a-test-flight-t-Y5I64CCZ3BBCRP7MNVV4MGNWQI.jpg\")
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SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship is prepared for a test flight that was later delayed, in Starbase, Texas,. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
SpaceX was hoping to avoid the fireworks it experienced during back-to-back launches last year when midair explosions rained wreckage down on the Atlantic. Earlier flights also ended in flames.<\/p>\n
At 124 metres, the latest model eclipses the older Starship lines by more than 1 metre and packs more engine thrust.<\/p>\n
The revamped booster sports fewer but bigger and stronger grid fins for steering it back to Earth following liftoff, and a larger and more robust fuel transfer line to feed the 33 main engines. This fuel line is the size of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first-stage booster. The retro-looking, stainless steel spacecraft also has more of everything \u2014 more cameras and more navigation and computer power \u2014 as well as docking cones for future rendezvous and moon missions.<\/p>\n
Starship is meant to be fully reusable, with giant mechanical arms at the launch pads to catch the returning rocket stages. But on this latest trial run, nothing was being recovered. The Gulf of Mexico marked the end of the road for the redesigned first-stage booster, and the Indian Ocean for the spacecraft and its satellite demos.<\/p>\n
![\"SpaceX's](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/spacexs-mega-rocket-starship-makes-a-test-flight-from-starba-OCG55F2CDJHPBALIXRAJSKDEBE.jpg\")
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SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship makes a test flight from Starbase, Texas. (Source: Associated Press)<\/p>\n
NASA is paying SpaceX billions of dollars \u2014 and also Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin \u2014 to provide the lunar landers that will be used to land Artemis astronauts on the moon.<\/p>\n
The two companies are scrambling to be first.<\/p>\n
While Starship has reached the fringes of space on multiple flights lasting an hour at most, Bezos’ Blue Moon has yet to lift off, although a prototype is being readied for a moonshot later this year.<\/p>\n
NASA is following April\u2019s successful lunar flyaround by four astronauts with a docking trial run in orbit around Earth planned for next year. For that Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their Orion capsule with Starship, Blue Moon or both.<\/p>\n
A moon landing by two astronauts \u2014 Artemis IV \u2014 could follow as soon as 2028 using either Starship or Blue Moon, whichever lander is safer and ready first. It will be NASA\u2019s first lunar landing with a crew since 1972\u2019s Apollo 17. The goal this time is a moon base near the lunar south pole, staffed by astronauts as well as robots.<\/p>\n
SpaceX is already taking reservations for private flights to the moon and Mars on Starship.<\/p>\n
The world’s first space tourist, California businessman Dennis Tito, and his wife signed up 3 1\/2 years ago for a flight around the moon. The timing is uncertain.<\/p>\n
This week, another wealthy space tourist \u2014 Chinese-born bitcoin investor Chun Wang \u2014 announced he will fly to Mars on Starship’s first interplanetary mission. Wang previously chartered a SpaceX polar flight in a Dragon capsule last year and, along with his hand-picked crew, became the first to orbit above the north and south poles.<\/p>\n
No price tag or date was revealed for his Mars cruise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SpaceX launched its biggest, most powerful Starship yet in a test flight \u2013 an upgraded version that NASA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":440957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[111,139,64,69,147,392],"class_list":["post-440956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-north-america","tag-nz","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=440956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/440956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/440957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=440956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=440956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=440956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}