SpaceX is building a fully reusable Starship to expand the human footprint beyond Earth.

As SpaceX’s envisioned multipurpose spacecraft, Starship will be capable of launching substantial payloads to any destination in the solar system, allow humans to live and work on Mars, perform lunar exploration for NASA, and conduct speedy intercontinental point-to-point transportation to destinations across Earth's surface.

Technical Specifications

Height: 50 m / 164 ft

Diameter: 9 m / 29.5 ft

Propellant Capacity: 1200 t / 2.6 Mlb

Thrust: 1500 tf / 3.2 Mlbf

Payload capacity: 100-150 t

Flight 7 Mission Profile

The seventh flight test of Starship is preparing to launch.

The upcoming flight test will launch a new generation ship with significant upgrades, attempt Starship’s first payload deployment test, fly multiple reentry experiments geared towards ship catch and reuse, and launch and return the Super Heavy booster.

A block of planned upgrades to the Starship upper stage will debut on this flight test, bringing major improvements to reliability and performance. The vehicle’s forward flaps have been reduced in size and shifted towards the vehicle tip and away from the heat shield, significantly reducing their exposure to reentry heating while simplifying the underlying mechanisms and protective tiling. Redesigns to the propulsion system, including a 25 percent increase in propellant volume, the vacuum jacketing of feedlines, a new fuel feedline system for the vehicle’s Raptor vacuum engines, and an improved propulsion avionics module controlling vehicle valves and reading sensors, all add additional vehicle performance and the ability to fly longer missions. The ship’s heat shield will also use the latest generation tiles and includes a backup layer to protect from missing or damaged tiles.

The vehicle’s avionics underwent a complete redesign, adding additional capability and redundancy for increasingly complex missions like propellant transfer and ship return to launch site. Avionics upgrades include a more powerful flight computer, integrated antennas which combine Starlink, GNSS, and backup RF communication functions into each unit, redesigned inertial navigation and star tracking sensors, integrated smart batteries and power units that distribute data and 2.7MW of power across the ship to 21 high-voltage actuators, and an increase to more than 30 vehicle cameras giving engineers insight into hardware performance across the vehicle during flight. With Starlink, the vehicle is capable of streaming more than 120 Mbps of real-time high-definition video and telemetry in every phase of flight, providing invaluable engineering data to rapidly iterate across all systems.

While in space, Starship will deploy 10 Starlink simulators, similar in size and weight to next-generation Starlink satellites as the first exercise of a satellite deploy mission. The Starlink simulators will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship, with splashdown targeted in the Indian Ocean. A relight of a single Raptor engine while in space is also planned.

The flight test will include several experiments focused on ship return to launch site and catch. On Starship’s upper stage, a significant number of tiles will be removed to stress-test vulnerable areas across the vehicle. Multiple metallic tile options, including one with active cooling, will test alternative materials for protecting Starship during reentry. On the sides of the vehicle, non-structural versions of ship catch fittings are installed to test the fittings’ thermal performance, along with a smoothed and tapered edge of the tile line to address hot spots observed during reentry on Starship’s sixth flight test. The ship’s reentry profile is being designed to intentionally stress the structural limits of the flaps while at the point of maximum entry dynamic pressure. Finally, several radar sensors will be tested on the tower chopsticks with the goal of increasing the accuracy when measuring distances between the chopsticks and a returning vehicle during catch.

The Super Heavy booster will utilize flight proven hardware for the first time, reusing a Raptor engine from the booster launched and returned on Starship’s fifth flight test. Hardware upgrades to the launch and catch tower will increase reliability for booster catch, including protections to the sensors on the tower chopsticks that were damaged at launch and resulted in the booster offshore divert on Starship’s previous flight test.

Distinct vehicle and pad criteria must be met prior to a return and catch of the Super Heavy booster, requiring healthy systems on the booster and tower and a final manual command from the mission’s Flight Director. If this command is not sent prior to the completion of the boostback burn, or if automated health checks show unacceptable conditions with Super Heavy or the tower, the booster will default to a trajectory that takes it to a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. We accept no compromises when it comes to ensuring the safety of the public and our team, and the return will only take place if conditions are right.

The returning booster will slow down from supersonic speeds, resulting in audible sonic booms in the area around the landing zone. Generally, the only impact to those in the surrounding area of a sonic boom is the brief thunder-like noise with variables like weather and distance from the return site determining the magnitude experienced by observers.

This new year will be transformational for Starship, with the goal of bringing reuse of the entire system online and flying increasingly ambitious missions as we iterate towards being able to send humans and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, and Mars.

Flight Heritage

Integrated Flight Test 6

The sixth flight test of Starship launched from Starbase on November 19, 2024, seeking to expand the envelope on ship and booster capabilities and get closer to bringing reuse of the entire system online.

The Super Heavy booster successfully lifted off at the start of the launch window, with all 33 Raptor engines powering it and Starship off the pad from Starbase. Following a nominal ascent and stage separation, the booster successfully transitioned to its boostback burn to begin the return to launch site. During this phase, automated health checks of critical hardware on the launch and catch tower triggered an abort of the catch attempt. The booster then executed a pre-planned divert maneuver, performing a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.

Starship completed another successful ascent, placing it on the expected trajectory. The ship successfully reignited a single Raptor engine while in space, demonstrating the capabilities required to conduct a ship deorbit burn before starting fully orbital missions. With live views and telemetry being relayed by Starlink, the ship successfully made it through reentry and executed a flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

Data gathered from the multiple thermal protection experiments, as well as the successful flight through subsonic speeds at a more aggressive angle of attack, provides invaluable feedback on flight hardware performing in a flight environment as we aim for eventual ship return and catch.

With data and flight learnings as our primary payload, Starship’s sixth flight test once again delivered. Lessons learned will directly make the entire Starship system more reliable as we close in on full and rapid reusability.

Integrated Flight Test 5

Starship’s fifth flight test lifted off on October 13, 2024, with the most ambitious test objectives yet as SpaceX worked to demonstrate techniques fundamental to Starship and Super Heavy’s fully and rapidly reusable design. On the first attempt, Mechazilla successfully caught the booster.

Following a successful liftoff, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and coast, the Super Heavy booster performed its landing burn and was caught by the chopstick arms of the launch and catch tower at Starbase. Thousands of distinct vehicle and pad criteria had to be met before the catch attempt, and thanks to the tireless work of SpaceX engineers, they succeeded on the first try.

Prior to the catch, Starship executed another successful hot-staging separation, igniting its six Raptor engines and completing its ascent into outer space. It coasted along its planned trajectory to the other side of the planet before executing a controlled reentry, passing through phases of peak heating and maximum aerodynamic pressure, followed by a flip, landing burn, and splashdown in its target area in the Indian Ocean. The flight test concluded with splashdown 1 hour, 5 minutes, and 40 seconds after launch.

Integrated Flight Test 4

Starship’s fourth flight test launched with ambitious goals, attempting to go farther than any previous test before and begin demonstrating capabilities central to return and reuse of Starship and Super Heavy. The payload for this test was the data. Starship delivered.

On June 6, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 7:50 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to deliver maximum excitement.

The Super Heavy booster lifted off successfully and completed a full-duration ascent burn.

Starship executed another successful hot-stage separation, powering down all but three of Super Heavy’s Raptor engines and successfully igniting the six second stage Raptor engines before separating the vehicles.

Following separation, the Super Heavy booster successfully completed its flip maneuver, boostback burn to send it towards the splashdown zone, and jettison of the hot-stage adapter.

The booster’s flight ended with a landing burn and soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico seven minutes and 24 seconds into the flight.

Starship's six second stage Raptor engines successfully powered the vehicle to space and placed it on the planned trajectory for coast.

Starship made a controlled reentry, successfully making it through the phases of peak heating and max aerodynamic pressure and demonstrating the ability to control the vehicle using its flaps while descending through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

Starlink on Starship once again enabled real-time telemetry and live high-definition video throughout every phase of entry, with external cameras providing views all the way to the flight’s conclusion.

Flight 4 ended with Starship igniting its three center Raptor engines and executing the first flip maneuver and landing burn since our suborbital campaign, followed by a soft splashdown of the ship in the Indian Ocean one hour and six minutes after launch.

Integrated Flight Test 3

On March 14, 2024, Starship successfully lifted off at 8:25 a.m. CT from Starbase in Texas and went on to accomplish several major milestones and firsts:

For the second time, all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy Booster started up successfully and completed a full-duration burn during ascent.

Starship executed its second successful hot-stage separation, powering down all but three of Super Heavy’s Raptor engines and successfully igniting the six second stage Raptor engines before separating the vehicles.

Following separation, the Super Heavy booster successfully completed its flip maneuver and completed a full boostback burn to send it towards its splashdown point in the Gulf of Mexico.

Super Heavy successfully lit several engines for its first ever landing burn before the vehicle experienced a RUD (that’s SpaceX-speak for “rapid unscheduled disassembly”). The booster’s flight concluded at approximately 462 meters in altitude and just under seven minutes into the mission.

Starship's six second stage Raptor engines all started successfully and powered the vehicle to its expected orbit, becoming the first Starship to complete its full-duration ascent burn.

While coasting, Starship accomplished several of the flight test’s additional objectives, including the opening and closing of its payload door (aka the pez dispenser,) and initiating a propellant transfer demonstration. Starship did not attempt its planned on-orbit relight of a single Raptor engine due to vehicle roll rates during coast. Results from these demonstrations will come after postflight data review is complete.

Starship went on to experience its first ever entry from space, providing valuable data on heating and vehicle control during hypersonic reentry. Live views of entry were made possible by Starlink terminals operating on Starship. - The flight test’s conclusion came during entry, with the last telemetry signals received via Starlink from Starship at approximately 49 minutes into the mission.

While teams review the data collected from this flight, Starship and Super Heavy vehicles are preparing for upcoming flights as SpaceX seeks to increase their launch cadence throughout the year.

This rapid iterative development approach has been the basis for all of SpaceX’s major innovative advancements, including Falcon, Dragon, and Starlink. Recursive improvement is essential as we work to build a fully reusable transportation system capable of carrying both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the Moon, and ultimately travel to Mars and beyond.

Integrated Flight Test 2

On November 18th, 2023, Starship Super Heavy successfully lifted off at 7:02 AM CT from Starbase, Texas.

All 33 Raptor engines were successfully ignited and reached full thrust, lifting the largest launch system ever built. In contrast to its previous flight, the Raptor engines onboard the Super Heavy booster functioned as expected. This, combined with quicker thrust throttling to minimize contact with the pad, enabled Starship to lift off smoothly and pitch away from the launch site.

With thrust exceeding twice that of the Saturn V and surpassing NASA's Space Launch System, Starship Super Heavy followed its planned trajectory into space. After passing the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure, the vehicle achieved supersonic speed for the first time.

The previous test flight experienced multiple engine shutdowns before stage separation, but the lessons learned from that flight resulted in a flawless ascent profile. SpaceX addressed all the issues encountered during the first flight, and this launch marked the maiden test flight of several new technologies.

As Starship Super Heavy approached the stage separation point, all but the central three booster engines shut down in a staggered sequence at MECO (Most Engines Cut Off). While the Super Heavy booster continued to provide thrust, though significantly reduced, the six Raptor engines on Starship ignited, facilitating its separation from Super Heavy. Engine plasma exited from the booster’s skirt, in an additional ring specifically designed for this stage separation system — known as hot staging. This was the first time hot staging was performed and tested in-flight on an American rocket since the Titan fleet.

Rarely used by American launch vehicles, hot staging is common in Soviet-era Russian rockets like Soyuz since it simplifies the stage separation system, and enables more mass to orbit. SpaceX estimates that hot staging will increase Starship’s maximum payload to orbit by 10%.

Heat shields and skirtings on the booster helped protect it from Starship's fiery plume. Multiple-raptor engines on Super Heavy reignited as it steered away from Starship and began its boost-back burn. However, it was shortly terminated by the Autonomous Flight Termination system. The cause for this is still unknown, but it’s highly probable that all the required engines might not have reignited properly and the booster significantly deviated from its planned trajectory, leading to its automatic termination at an altitude of 90 kilometers (56 miles) over the Gulf of Mexico.

As it passed the Kármán line (100km) the vehicle became the most powerful rocket to ever make it to space.

Just short of the second stage cut-off, Starship lost all communications from the ground and experienced a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (big explosion).

Starship achieved a maximum altitude of ~150 kilometers (93.2 miles), and a velocity of ~24,000 kilometers per hour (~15,000 miles per hour), its highest ever. This second integrated flight test successfully demonstrated the highly dynamic stage separation system, booster boost-back burn, and all the mitigations that were in place after the first flight.

Post-launch, inspections of the pad revealed that work done to strengthen it, including the water-cooled steel plate, worked as expected and requires little to no refurbishment for the next launch.

Despite being a success in terms of an iterative development program, Starship Super Heavy did in fact explode, thereby falling short of its official objectives and immediately triggering an FAA anomaly review.

Integrated Flight Test 1

On April 20th, 2023, Starship lifted off at 9:33 a.m. CT from Starbase, Texas.

SpaceX took a significant step in the development of its rapidly reusable launch vehicle, Starship Super Heavy, by flying the beast to an altitude of 39km during its heart-stopping first fight. Did SpaceX fail to complete its larger objectives? Yes. Did they accelerate the program by testing systems and gathering flight data? Also, Yes.

The rocket cleared the pad and climbed as it continued to lose multiple engines and subsystems essential for the ascent. As more and more engines failed, Starship Super Heavy deviated from its planned trajectory before being stopped by the flight termination system over the Gulf of Mexico. Just before the massive vehicle self-destructed for safety about 4 minutes into the flight, SpaceX’s livestream explained that Starship’s visible cartwheels in the sky instead of the planned booster separation, “does not appear to be a nominal situation.”

Courtesy of SpaceX.

The Super Heavy booster is the first stage of SpaceX’s fully reusable Starship launch system and is the most powerful rocket booster ever built. It is designed to propel Starship toward orbit using 33 Raptor engines that burn liquid methane and liquid oxygen. These engines generate more than twice the thrust of the Saturn V, which previously held the record for the most powerful rocket ever flown.

Specs

Height: 71 m (232 ft)

Diameter: 9 m (29.5 ft)

Propellant Capacity: 3,400 t (7.5 million lb)

Thrust: 7,590 tf (16.7 million lbf)

The booster is designed to be fully reusable and return to the launch site rather than landing on a pad or drone ship. Following separation, Super Heavy performs a boostback burn to redirect itself toward Starbase, an entry burn to reduce heating and structural loads during atmospheric reentry, and a landing burn to precisely control its final descent. Instead of landing legs, SpaceX uses the launch tower’s mechanical arms, commonly known as the chopsticks, to catch the booster in midair. This approach reduces vehicle mass and supports faster turnaround between flights.

Several key systems enable this recovery method, including four large grid fins mounted near the top of the booster. These grid fins provide aerodynamic control during descent and are critical for aligning Super Heavy with the launch tower during the final seconds before capture. The booster also carries onboard flight computers, batteries, vents, and guidance systems that manage its autonomous return and landing sequence.

The first successful tower catch of a Super Heavy booster occurred during Starship Flight 5 on October 13th, 2024, proving the viability of the catch system on the very first attempt. This milestone was followed by another successful catch on Flight 7 on January 16th, 2025, which succeeded despite one engine failing to relight during the boostback burn. A third successful catch took place during Flight 8 on March 6th, 2025, when the booster returned safely to the launch tower after resolving a minor igniter issue prior to landing.

A major milestone followed with Starship Flight 9 on May 27th, 2025, which marked the first reuse of a Super Heavy booster. The booster assigned to Flight 9 had previously flown on Flight 7, making it the first Super Heavy to be reflown after a successful catch. While the booster was not recovered to the tower on this mission and instead flew a planned experimental profile that ended in a controlled splashdown attempt, the flight demonstrated the feasibility of booster reuse and expanded SpaceX’s reentry data set.

These missions collectively support SpaceX’s long term goal of achieving zero touch reflight, in which Super Heavy boosters can be reused with little to no refurbishment between launches. This capability is critical for enabling high launch cadence in support of lunar missions, Mars exploration, satellite deployment, and future commercial operations.

Photo courtesy of SpaceX.

Orbital Launch Pad A, often referred to as Pad 1, is the original and currently primary operational launch pad at Starbase, SpaceX’s privately developed launch site near Boca Chica, Texas. Located along the United States–Mexico border on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Pad 1 was designed specifically to support the testing and launch of the Starship and Super Heavy launch system. Unlike traditional launch pads that rely on large flame trenches, Pad 1 is built around a massive steel orbital launch mount that elevates the Super Heavy booster above ground level, allowing engine exhaust to disperse outward beneath the vehicle.

Pad 1 supported Starship’s earliest integrated flight tests and played a critical role in validating SpaceX’s unconventional launch infrastructure. Following substantial damage during the first integrated flight test in April 2023, the pad underwent extensive reconstruction. A key upgrade was the installation of a high-capacity water-cooled steel flame deflector system, often referred to as the steel showerhead, designed to absorb extreme heat and acoustic energy during liftoff. These improvements significantly increased pad survivability and enabled a faster operational turnaround.

Adjacent to Pad 1 is the iconic launch and catch tower, commonly nicknamed Mechazilla. This tower is used to stack Starship onto the Super Heavy booster using large mechanical arms and is designed to eventually catch returning Super Heavy boosters after flight. Pad 1 has since supported multiple successful Starship launches and remains the cornerstone of Starbase operations as SpaceX continues refining the Starship system for orbital missions, lunar landings, and future Mars exploration.

Image courtesy of Tom Cross for Supercluster.

The Starbase catch tower is a ground structure built to recover the Super Heavy booster after flight. The tower supports a pair of large mechanical arms that are mounted on rails and can move vertically along the structure. These arms are used instead of traditional landing legs on the booster.

During recovery, Super Heavy performs a controlled return to the launch site. The booster aligns itself with the tower and descends between the arms. Load-bearing pins on the booster interface with the arms, allowing the vehicle to be physically supported by the tower once captured.

The catch system is intended to place the booster back at the launch site without requiring a separate landing pad. This approach reduces the need for landing legs and allows the booster to be positioned for ground operations after recovery.

Photo courtesy of SpaceX.

Starship is targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean. This flight path does not require a deorbit burn for reentry, maximizing public safety while still providing the opportunity to meet SpaceX's primary objective of a controlled Starship reentry.

Courtesy of SpaceX

High-quality prints selected from the Supercluster team’s spaceflight photography are now available in our shop.

Our prints are produced on 10 mil (0.25 mm) thick, slightly glossy, and fingerprint-resistant photo paper sourced from Japan.

Begin your collection with a shot seen around the world: Erik Kuna’s capture of a young space fan experiencing the liftoff of Starship Super Heavy.

Commemorate the historic inaugural launch of the Starship Super Heavy with the proper gear.

What else are you going to wear while visiting Starbase?

Purchase our Starship Prototype Tee by clicking here.

Starship Prototype Mission Patch

Mission patch for the SpaceX Starship prototype test program.

3.5" x 3.5"

Iron on backing.

Click here to purchase one from our shop. Supplies are limited.