SpaceX faces a crucial test on the eve of its IPO: Starship V3 to make its maiden flight on Wednesday, touted as "fully reusable."

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SpaceX is about to experience one of the most critical moments in its history.

Elon Musk’s rocket company plans to launch the brand new third-generation Starship (Starship V3) from Starbase, Texas, as early as 17:30 - 19:00 Beijing time on May 20 — this will be the largest and most powerful rocket ever built and marks the 12th test flight in the Starship series.

The timing of this launch is highly sensitive. According to reports, SpaceX plans to publicly release its IPO prospectus as early as the day after the launch and may complete its listing by June 12. This IPO is expected to become one of the largest in tech company history. Meanwhile, SpaceX is competing with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin for NASA’s Artemis lunar landing contract, aiming to deliver astronauts to the Moon by 2028.

Musk previously stated on platform X that Starship V3 will be fully reusable. Compared to previous generations, Starship V3 makes a leap in payload capacity from 35 tons to over 100 tons, is fully optimized for rapid reuse, and, crucially, is equipped for the first time with an orbital propellant transfer system. Musk also stated on X that V3 will be fully reusable. This flight is expected to last about 65 minutes, with plans to deploy 22 simulated Starlink satellites and restart one of the upper-stage engines in space.

A critical leap after seven months of silence

More than seven months have passed since the last Starship test flight (the 11th). During this period, Starship has faced a series of setbacks— last year's tests saw uncontrolled atmospheric reentry and two explosion incidents, severely slowing development.

The development of Starship V3 has also not been smooth: the Super Heavy booster exploded during pre-launch testing last November, and the Raptor 3 engine experienced failures in April.

SpaceX says it has now solved the related technical issues and is confident in this launch.

Starship V3 will lift off from a brand new pad at SpaceX’s Starbase, standing 408 feet (about 124 meters), slightly taller than its predecessors. During this flight, the Super Heavy booster will autonomously land on the Gulf of Mexico about 7 minutes after liftoff, without attempting a return to the launch pad by "chopsticks"; the upper-stage spacecraft will splash down in the Indian Ocean about 65 minutes later.

Three Core Upgrades

Significant Boost in Delivery Capacity

Starship V3 is equipped with 33 Raptor 3 engines, providing about 18 million pounds of thrust (about 8165 tons), nearly a 10% increase over the previous generation. The upper stage has 6 Raptor 3 engines, with combined thrust exceeding 3.3 million pounds. Thanks to these, Starship V3's low-Earth orbit payload increases from 35 tons for V2 to over 100 tons, massively reducing the number of launches required for large-scale missions and promising even lower costs per pound.

The Raptor 3 engine achieves 250 tons of sea-level thrust, and 275 tons of vacuum thrust. Sensors and controllers are integrated inside the engine, eliminating the shield and simplifying the structure.

Deep Optimization for Rapid Reuse

SpaceX has made many redesigns to the Super Heavy booster for high-frequency reuse in V3. The number of grid fins changes from 4 to 3, each 50% larger and markedly stronger, allowing for descent at greater angles and more precise landings. The redesigned fuel transfer pipes are close in size to Falcon 9’s first stage, supporting rapid ignition for all 33 engines and more reliable flipping maneuvers.

Additionally, the hot staging ring moves from a disposable to an integrated design, replacing the previously discarded interstage protection after every flight, reducing parts loss and post-flight repair needs. The upper stage also gets streamlined systems and restructured thermal protection aiming to shorten turnaround times between flights.

Musk previously noted Starship’s biggest technical challenge was the reusability of the thermal protection system. “No one has ever built a reusable orbital-level heat shield,” he said in a podcast this February, “The heat shield must not lose lots of tiles on ascent, and must not have the main structure damaged from overheating upon return.” To tackle this, two inspection satellites will be deployed during this flight to image the heat protection system in orbit and send data live to the ground.

Orbital Propellant Transfer: The Key to Lunar Landing

Starship V3 is equipped for the first time with an inter-Starship propellant transfer system — including four docking cones on the wind-shielded side and inter-ship fuel transfer interfaces — and new RF sensors for precise liquid level measurement in microgravity. This ability is vital for Artemis lunar missions—the Starship upper stage must refuel in orbit before flying to the Moon. SpaceX has not yet attempted this, but this test flight will lay the groundwork for future verification.

NASA Moon Landing Schedule Under Pressure, IPO Window Opens

Starship's development pace is behind NASA’s expectations. NASA head Jared Isaacman said in a congressional hearing last month that Artemis III will be delayed to late 2027, not mid-2027 as previously planned.

The mission requires Starship’s upper stage to rendezvous with NASA’s Orion spacecraft in low-Earth orbit; afterward, SpaceX must also rapidly secure crew certification for Starship, preparing for the 2028 Artemis IV mission to land astronauts on the Moon.

Commercially, SpaceX’s IPO plans coincide closely with Starship’s test flight. According to Reuters, SpaceX plans to publicly release its prospectus as early as May 20 (the day after launch) and may list on June 12. In addition

The outcome of this flight will directly impact the market’s judgment of SpaceX’s technical strength and commercial prospects—its importance goes without saying.

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