We’ve entered the third month of 2026, and SpaceX’s gargantuan Starship rocket has yet to make its debut this year.
In fact, the world’s largest rocket has not gotten off the ground in nearly five months from SpaceX’s Starbase headquarters and company town in South Texas. That’s an unusual delay in launch operations for Starship, which SpaceX has reliably tested every one to 4 months since its second-ever flight in November 2023.
Could the gap between flight tests be because SpaceX is making crucial final preparations to a new version of Starship that could be the iteration to embark on key missions in the years ahead to orbit? Indeed, the next time SpaceX rolls out the 400-foot rocket to the launch pad, it will be a revamped design of the vehicle being developed for missions to the moon – and potentially Mars.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man who founded SpaceX in 2002, has previously teased that the next Starship launch – a mission the commercial spaceflight company refers to as flight 12 – could come in early March. In 2025, Starship had five test flights, and the last one in October ended on a high note. The next mission would be Starship’s 12th overall and first of 2026.
And later this year, plans are still in the works to launch Starship on its long-awaited maiden voyage from Florida.
Here’s everything to know about SpaceX’s Starship, and when it could launch again.
When is Starship flight 12? What to know about next SpaceX launch date
Musk, who is the company’s founder and chief executive, previously indicated Starship was on track of a 2026 debut in March. In a Jan. 26 post on X, Musk shared a photo of Starship with a simple message: “Starship launch in 6 weeks.”
Musk’s announcement would mean SpaceX was targeting a March liftoff from Starbase, SpaceX’s company town and headquarters in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.
But as of March 2, SpaceX has not announced an official target launch date for its next Starship test. The mission is also not listed on SpaceX’s online launch schedule.
What is SpaceX’s Starship? How tall is it?
Standing at more than 400 feet tall when fully stacked, Starship is regarded as the largest and most powerful launch vehicle in the world.
SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. The fully integrated spacecraft is composed of both a lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy that provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff, as well as an upper stage simply called Starship, which is the vehicle where crew and cargo would ride.
In the years ahead, Starship is due to help NASA astronauts land on the moon under the U.S. space agency’s Artemis program. Musk also has dreams of Starship being the vehicle that transports the first humans to Mars, though in February he announced SpaceX’s intentions of shifting its focus to building a lunar city first.
What happened with Starship in 2025?
SpaceX conducted five Starship flight tests in 2025, the first three of which ended in disaster when the vehicle met a premature fiery demise before completing many key objectives.
But SpaceX ended 2025 on a high note, with its final two Starship launches of the year in August and October, each considered a success.
The most recent Starship test, taking place Oct. 13, was also the final flight for that iteration of the rocket, known as Version 2.
What’s next for SpaceX, Starship in 2026? Version 3 to make debut
SpaceX’s next prototype of Starship, known as Version 3, is expected to make its debut during flight 12 from Starbase.
At about 408 feet tall, Version 3 is expected to not only be slightly larger than its predecessor, but considerably more powerful, according to Musk.
If all goes to plan, Version 3 (V3) could be the Starship model to reach orbit and also refuel its upper stage midflight. The complex process, requiring two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet up in orbit to transfer hundreds of tons of super-cooled propellant, is necessary for Starship to reach distant destinations like Mars.
When will SpaceX’s Starship launch from Florida?
Florida’s first landmark Starship launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center could take flight in 2026 in late summer or early fall, according to the U.S. Space Force.
Plans to get the rocket off the ground from the Sunshine State also come as SpaceX continues to ready longterm launch and landing operations at not only Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, but Launch Complex 37 at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Contributing: Rick Neale, FLORIDA TODAY
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 hasn’t launched Starship in months. Why the delay, what’s next?
Reporting by Eric Lagatta, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
