Flight report · May 22, 2026
Flight 12: V3, Raptor 3, and Pad 2 debut
May 22, 2026 opened a new chapter with the first V3 stack, the first Raptor 3 flight, the first Pad 2 liftoff, and the first Starship deploy of modified Starlink satellites. The booster’s return ended in a hard splashdown.
Starship V3 · Orbital Launch Pad 2 · Flight 12 of 14
Outcome
Ship objectives met / booster return partial
- Ship
- Ship 39Success
- Expended · Expended after flight
- Booster
- Booster 19Partial
- Lost · Lost on flight
Key figures
- Liftoff
- 5:30 p.m. CT · May 22
- Pad
- Orbital Launch Pad 2
- Payload
- 20 sims + 2 Starlink
- Booster result
- Hard splashdown
01 / 03
The flight
What happened
Flight 12 lifted off at 5:30 p.m. CT on May 22, 2026 from brand-new Pad 2. It was the first flight of Starship and Super Heavy V3 and of Raptor 3.
One booster engine shut down on ascent, and the stack still hot-staged. Ship lost a vacuum Raptor later but showed engine-out capability and made the planned trajectory.
02 / 03
Payload and ship return
On coast, Starship deployed all 20 Starlink simulators plus two modified Starlink satellites that imaged the vehicle in space. All of them flew the same suborbital trajectory as the ship.
The planned in-space Raptor relight was skipped after the ascent engine loss. Reentry still produced heat-shield and rear-flap stress data, including banking similar to future Starbase returns.
03 / 03
Booster return
After separation, Super Heavy’s boostback could not light the full planned engine set and ended early. A landing-burn attempt followed, then a hard splashdown in the Gulf.
Ship objectives carried the day. Booster soft-splash reliability stayed on the punch list for Flight 13.