What Starship Flight 12 Means for SpaceX’s IPO

Mostly successful debut of company’s largest rocket yet represents a key step toward grander ambitions.

Jack Daleo

Wednesday, May 27, 2026 at 09:00 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Travis Tingle

SpaceX’s Version 3 (V3) Starship launches on its debut suborbital test flight on Friday. [Credit: SpaceX]

Key Takeaways:

SpaceX's Starship Version 3 completed its 12th test flight, achieving a planned suborbital trajectory and deploying dummy satellites, despite multiple engine failures on both the Super Heavy booster and Starship upper stage.
The mission gathered critical data, showing improved performance for the heat shield and flaps during reentry, and introduced new onboard satellite scanning capabilities.
Despite the anomalies, the FAA has not grounded Starship, and this flight is a key step towards achieving orbital missions by late 2026, which are crucial for SpaceX's anticipated IPO, Starlink deployments, and NASA's Artemis moon program.

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Ahead of what observers anticipate will be the largest initial public offering (IPO) in history, SpaceX debuted its largest rocket yet on a mostly successful mission.

Though Starship and the Super Heavy booster—which combined stand more than 400 feet tall, nearly the length of a Boeing 777—suffered multiple engine failures, the ship achieved its planned suborbital trajectory and deployed a batch of dummy Starlink satellites. For the first time, two of these used cameras and sensors to scan Starship in space.