# Starship
> SpaceX's fully-reusable US launch vehicle, contracted as NASA's Artemis lunar lander, central to commercial satellite deployment and crewed Moon and Mars ambitions.

**Meta:** type: reference · date: 2026-07-03 · heads:  · 5 takes · 4 lenses · 1 regions

## What it is

Starship is a two-stage, fully-reusable launch vehicle developed by SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, and operated from Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas. The system pairs a Super Heavy booster with a Starship upper stage, both powered by Raptor engines burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen. Super Heavy carries 33 Raptor engines (Version 3 as of 2026); the upper stage carries six. The fully stacked system stands approximately 122 meters, making it the largest orbital rocket ever flown. The upper stage doubles as spacecraft, cargo carrier, and, in the Human Landing System (HLS) variant contracted by NASA, a standalone lunar lander roughly 50 meters tall. Both stages return to the launch site, the booster caught by the tower's mechanical arms, targeting a per-launch cost that enables Earth-orbit, lunar, and Mars operations at volume.

## History

SpaceX presented the concept publicly in 2016 as the Interplanetary Transport System; the Starship name came later. High-altitude suborbital tests of the upper stage alone, SN8 through SN15 (December 2020 to May 2021), demonstrated the belly-flop reentry attitude and propulsive flip-to-land maneuver. The first fully integrated flight test (Flight 1) launched April 20, 2023, and ended in vehicle breakup over the Gulf of Mexico. Each subsequent test added capability: stage separation on Flight 2 (November 2023), controlled ship ocean landing on Flight 3 (March 2024), booster return and ocean splashdown on Flight 4 (June 2024), and the landmark booster catch at the launch tower's mechanical arms on Flight 5 (October 2024). Flights 6 through 11 continued to build reusability data and refine propellant management. By May 2026, SpaceX had flown 12 integrated stack tests.

## Current state

Flight 12 on May 22, 2026, was the debut of the Version 3 configuration, featuring Raptor 3 engines and the new Pad 2 at Starbase. The Starship upper stage completed a clean reentry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean, deploying 20 dummy Starlink satellites and validating the payload bay design. Super Heavy Booster 19 suffered a Raptor 3 shutdown at T+1:42 into ascent and could not ignite the planned engines during the boostback burn, striking the ocean at approximately 1,450 km/h. The US FAA declared the booster crash a mishap on May 27, 2026, opening [Starship's eighth mishap investigation](/zh/n/starship-flight-12-booster-failure-2026) since the program began. Hardware for Flight 13 (Ship 40 and Booster 20) stands ready at Starbase, pending investigation clearance. SpaceX's plan to deploy Starlink Version 3 satellites in H2 2026 and NASA's target of an [Artemis III crewed lunar landing](/zh/n/artemis-3-post-flyby-2026) in 2027 both depend on resolving the Raptor 3 reliability findings.

## Relationships

NASA selected SpaceX in April 2021 under the NextSTEP-2 program to develop Starship HLS, with an initial contract value of US$2.89 billion, later extended to cover the Artemis IV mission as well. SpaceX must conduct at least one uncrewed HLS demonstration before a crewed Artemis III landing. The [Starlink](/zh/n/starlink-dossier) megaconstellation's next generation (Version 3 satellites, offering substantially higher per-satellite throughput) requires Starship's large payload bay for mass deployment. Starship also sits at the center of a US-China competition for lunar precedence: China is developing the Long March 9 heavy-lift rocket targeting a crewed lunar landing by 2030, making Starship's reliability and schedule the primary variable in whether the US lands first under [the Artemis program](/zh/n/artemis-dossier). The US FAA, which has authority over all commercial launch licenses, is both regulator and pacing factor: it approved up to 25 Starship launches per year from Starbase and is separately processing a Kennedy Space Center LC-39A license.

## What to watch

The FAA mishap investigation into Flight 12 is the immediate gating item, with Raptor 3 engine reliability the focus. Clearance of Flight 13 sets the timeline for Starlink V3 deployment and Artemis III. The first orbital propellant transfer demonstration, a prerequisite for the full Artemis lunar mission profile (Starship HLS must be refueled in Earth orbit before traveling to the Moon), has not yet flown. SpaceX is seeking FAA environmental clearance for launches from Kennedy Space Center LC-39A, adding a second launch site to raise cadence. Watch for the Flight 13 license, the first orbital refueling test date, and any NASA or FAA update on the 2027 Artemis III schedule.

## Regional takes (batched by bias / lens)

### official record
- **SpaceX (Starship vehicle page)** (United States, en) — SpaceX's authoritative vehicle page describing Starship's two-stage architecture, Raptor engine specifications, payload capacity, and full-reusability design for lunar, Mars, and commercial missions.
  Source: https://www.spacex.com/vehicles/starship
- **NASA Human Landing System** (United States, en) — NASA's program page for Starship HLS, covering the 2021 contract award to SpaceX, the lander's role in Artemis III and IV, and the 50-meter height specification for the crewed lunar landing variant.
  Source: https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/human-landing-system/

### regulatory record
- **FAA (SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Project)** (United States, en) — FAA stakeholder page for the Starbase, Texas launch site, covering environmental reviews, the 25-launches-per-year license cap, mishap investigation requirements, and Kennedy Space Center regulatory work.
  Source: https://www.faa.gov/space/stakeholder_engagement/spacex_starship

### oversight audit
- **NASA OIG (HLS Contracts Report, March 2026)** (United States, en) — Inspector General audit of NASA's management of HLS contracts, finding schedule delays and unmitigated crew safety risks as of March 2026, the official oversight record of the program's standing.
  Source: https://oig.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/final-report-ig-26-004-nasas-management-of-the-human-landing-system-contracts.pdf

### US space-trade
- **Spaceflight Now** (United States, en) — Reports the FAA's May 27, 2026 determination that Super Heavy Booster 19's hard splashdown during Flight 12 constituted a mishap, grounding Starship pending a SpaceX-led investigation.
  Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2026/05/27/faa-requires-spacex-led-mishap-investigation-before-resumption-of-starship-launches/

## Across the graph
- Related: [[starship-flight-12-booster-failure-2026]], [[artemis-3-post-flyby-2026]], [[starlink-dossier]], [[artemis-dossier]]
- Entities: Starship, Spacex, United States, Faa, Nasa

---
Canonical: https://rbtfl.xyz/zh/n/starship-dossier