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.
Here’s the latest on the 12th-ever flight test for Starship, which SpaceX refers to as flight 12.
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 launches
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. Subscribe to the free Florida TODAY newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: SpaceX delays Starship launch by 24 hours. Here’s the flight 12 date
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
