The delayed first test of SpaceX’s updated Starship rocket is now scheduled for mid-March, according to the release shipment from CEO Elon Musk on social media site X.
The third version of the Starship, or V3, is bigger and more powerful. Importantly, the company plans to use the Starship V3 to launch the next generation of Starlink satellites, which will have faster data speeds but be heavier and heavier. It is also the first version of the rocket intended to dock with other Starships in Earth orbit, a capability the company needs to reach the moon or Mars.
This is all happening just like SpaceX race to an IPO by the end of this yearand under pressure from the Trump administration to return US astronauts to the lunar surface before the end of the second season. Starship, the most powerful rocket ever developed, is now an essential part of NASA’s mission to achieve this goal.
SpaceX is making progress towards launching the Starship V3 by the end of 2025. But in November, the booster stage exploded during testing. blow all sides of the steel rocket. The company said it was carrying out a “gas system pressure test” when the explosion occurred, but has yet to provide further details on what went wrong.
The company has hoped to continue from the second version of Starship, which there is a mixed bag. It successfully reached orbit with Starship V2, deployed a dummy version of the next-generation Starlink satellite, and captured multiple booster stages after returning to the launchpad.
But Starship V2 also had some explosions and setbacks of its own. Some of that comes as a result of SpaceX’s development approach, which involves pushing test vehicles to – or over – the limit and then iterating based on what the company learns. Others were more unexpected, like when one of the Starship vehicles atop the booster stage exploded in a huge fireball when soil testing last June.
SpaceX has dominated the global launch market for the past decade, and relies on Starship to maintain that dominance. But competition is creeping in on the edge. Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin launched its first mega-rocket, known as New Glenn, for the first time in January 2025 and again in November. The company launched the first commercial payload for NASA on its second flight and also completed the first landing of the booster stage.
Blue Origin is planning its third launch of New Glenn at the end of February and hopes to send its own lunar lander to the moon sometime after that. While New Glenn is smaller than Starship, Blue Origin announced late last year it develops a larger version from a vehicle that more directly competes with SpaceX’s super-heavy rockets.