SpaceX delays Starship flight 12 launch a day. What time is liftoff?

If you’ve been eagerly waiting all 2026 to see SpaceX launch its gargantuan Starship rocket, you’ll have to wait just a little bit longer.

After unveiling the first target launch date for Starship in seven months, billionaire Elon Musk‘s rocket company announced it’s bumping the next flight test for the world’s largest rocket. But not to fret: The delay is only by another 24 hours.

The next time a Starship gets off the ground in South Texas, it will be the largest rocket SpaceX has ever built. The debut of the new-generation Starship, known as Version 3, comes as the company races to have the spacecraft ready for NASA missions to the moon.

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NASA released thousands of new photos taken during the Artemis II mission around the moon. The astronauts selected for the mission thoroughly documented the 10-day voyage, which included an April 6 lunar flyby as they traveled more than a quarter-million miles from Earth.

Here’s the latest on the 12th-ever flight test for Starship, which SpaceX refers to as flight 12.

Starship: Inside SpaceX’s critical 12th launch of megarocket

When is the next Starship launch? SpaceX delays flight test a day

SpaceX announced that the launch window for Starship’s 12th flight test now opens at 6:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, May 20.

The new target date comes after SpaceX had originally indicated that it was working toward a May 19 launch of the world’s largest rocket. No reason was given for the delay.

As it has since its maiden launch in April 2023, Starship will once again get off the ground from SpaceX’s Starbase company town and headquarters in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.

What is Starship? World’s largest rocket bound for moon, Mars

Standing at more than 400 feet tall when fully stacked, Starship is regarded as the world’s largest and most powerful rocket.

SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions.

In the years ahead, a lunar lander configuration of Starship will be critical to NASA’s ambitions of returning astronauts to the moon under its Artemis program. Musk additionally dreams of sending humans aboard Starship to colonize Mars.

Closer to home, Starship is designed to carry larger versions of the company’s Starlink internet satellites and other payloads to Earth orbit.

See photos of Starship rocket launchesSpaceX launches Starship on flight 10 from Starbase in South Texas. See photos

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SpaceX’s Starship rocket is seen Tuesday, Aug. 26 after lifting off from Starbase, Texas, as seen from South Padre Island. The megarocket roared into the skies on its 10th test flight, following a string of explosive failures that cast doubt about its ability to realize Elon Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars.

SpaceX launches Starship megarocket on 11th flight test from Texas. See photos

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The SpaceX Starship spacecraft sits Oct. 12, 2025 atop the Super Heavy booster before sunrise as preparations continue for its 11th test flight from the company’s complex in Starbase, Texas.

What is flight 12? SpaceX to debut Version 3 (V3) of Starship

At 407-feet tall, the next-generation Starship due to launch will be the largest version of the vehicle SpaceX has ever built. If all goes to plan, that prototype, known as Version 3 (V3,) will be the one to reach orbit and be capable of refueling midflight – a capability that will allow for distant missions into space.

Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship. Powered by 33 of SpaceX’s Raptor-class engines, the booster provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff, while the vehicle is where the crew and cargo would ride in orbit after the stages separate.

The main objective of the flight test, as SpaceX explained online, is simply to test both new pieces of hardware “in the flight environment for the first time.”

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Starship V3 launch date delayed. Here’s when SpaceX targets liftoff