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 conducted the 12th test flight of its largest rocket, the upgraded Starship V3, achieving a planned suborbital trajectory and deploying dummy satellites despite multiple engine failures on both stages.
The mission provided critical data on Starship's heat shield performance during reentry and demonstrated new satellite deployment technology, advancing toward future orbital capabilities.
The V3's enhanced features are crucial for SpaceX's anticipated IPO, enabling expanded Starlink deployments, and are vital for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to use Starship for lunar astronaut landings by 2028.

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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.