SpaceX launches extra powerful Super Heavy-Starship test flight as company races toward IPO

Published May 23, 2026 11:10am ET



SpaceX successfully launched its Version 3 Super Heavy-Starship rocket from Texas on Friday in a critical test flight for the company’s future.

The 407-foot-tall V3 Starship rocket, designed as the most powerful ever built, blasted off into space from the company’s Starbase facility. There were some issues with the booster, which crashed into the Gulf of America, but the upper-stage spacecraft made it past Earth’s atmosphere. The vehicle then splashed down into the Indian Ocean.

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