Elon Musk Announces Starship V3 12th Test Flight in 6 Weeks

On January 26, Elon Musk announced that the 12th test flight of Starship will take place in six weeks, in March 2026.

Flight 12 will be the debut for the Starship V3 (Block 3) architecture, a more advanced and powerful version of the next-generation spacecraft.

The flight was initially planned earlier, but Booster 18 was damaged during tests in November 2025. Now, Booster 19 and Ship 39 are being prepared, with key tests scheduled this week.

The launch is expected to occur for the first time from the second launch pad (OLP-2, Pad 2) at Starbase, Texas. The flight plan mirrors previous missions without booster or ship recovery.

Musk stated that SpaceX aims to demonstrate full reusability of Starship this year, reducing space access costs by 100 times.

As construction of Pad 2 nears completion, the company has begun preparations to upgrade Pad 1.