Early design concepts (2012–2019) holding a model of BFR (Prior name of upper stage of Starship vehicle) In November 2005, before SpaceX had launched its first rocket the
Falcon 1, CEO
Elon Musk first mentioned a high-capacity rocket concept able to launch to
low Earth orbit, dubbed the
BFR. SpaceX called it the
Mars Colonial Transporter, as the rocket was to transport humans to Mars and back. The conceptual design called for a
carbon fiber structure, a mass in excess of when fully fueled, a payload of to low Earth orbit while being fully reusable. In December 2018, the structural material was changed from carbon composites marking the transition from early design concepts of the Starship. Musk cited numerous reasons for the change of material; low cost and ease of manufacture, increased strength of stainless steel at
cryogenic temperatures, as well as its ability to withstand high heat. They also announced that Starship would use reusable heat-shield tiles similar to
those of the Space Shuttle. The second-stage design had also settled on six Raptor engines by 2019: three
optimized for sea-level and three
optimized for vacuum. In 2019, SpaceX announced a change to the second stage's design, reducing the number of aft flaps from three to two to reduce weight. In March 2020 SpaceX released a Starship Users Guide, in which they stated the payload of Starship to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) would be over , with a payload to GTO of . SpaceX began constructing the first full-size
Starship MK1 and
MK2 upper-stage prototypes before 2019, at the SpaceX facilities in
Boca Chica,
Texas, and
Cocoa, Florida, respectively. Prototypes were built using
301 stainless steel. This was noted for its corrosion resistance and lower cost compared to carbon fiber but faced some challenges, particularly with interlaminar toughness at cryogenic temperatures. SpaceX then began naming its new Starship upper-stage prototypes with the prefix "SN", short for "
serial number". In June 2020, SpaceX started constructing a launch pad for orbital Starship flights. On August 5, 2020, SN5 performed a high flight and successfully landed on a nearby pad. On September 3, 2020, the similar-looking
Starship SN6 repeated the hop; later that month, a
Raptor vacuum engine underwent its first full duration firing at
McGregor, Texas.
SN8 to SN15 Starship SN8 was the first full-sized upper-stage prototype, though it lacked a heat shield. It underwent four preliminary static fire tests between October and November 2020. Later vehicles used a proprietary alloy, 30X, whose composition is proprietary that costs slightly over €3.6/kg. Because SpaceX had violated its
launch license and ignored warnings of worsening
shock wave damage, the
Federal Aviation Administration investigated the incident for two months. During the SN8 launch, SpaceX ignored FAA warnings that the flight profile posed a risk of explosion. A month later, on March 3,
Starship SN10 launched on the same flight path as SN9. The vehicle landed hard and crushed its landing legs, leaning to one side. On March 30,
Starship SN11 flew into thick fog along the same flight path. possibly due to excess propellant in a Raptor's methane turbopump. In March 2021, the company disclosed a public construction plan for two
sub-orbital launch pads, two orbital launch pads, two landing pads, two test stands, and a large propellant tank farm. The company soon proposed developing the surrounding
Boca Chica Village, Texas, into a
company town named
Starbase. In 2025, it was
incorporated as
Starbase, Texas. In early April, the orbital launch pad's fuel storage tanks began mounting. due to improved
avionics, structure, and engines.
Integrated flight tests (2023–) In June 2022, the
Federal Aviation Administration determined that SpaceX must address more than 75 issues identified in the preliminary environmental assessment before flight tests could start.
First flight test In July 2022,
Booster 7 tested the liquid oxygen
turbopumps on all 33 Raptor engines, resulting in an explosion at the vehicle's base, which destroyed a pressure pipe and caused minor damage to the launchpad. By the end of November, Ship 24 had performed 2 static test fires, while Booster 7 had performed 6 static test fires In January 2023, the whole Starship stack underwent a full
wet dress rehearsal. After a launch attempt aborted on April 17, 2023,
Booster 7 and
Ship 24 lifted off on April 20 at 13:33 UTC in the first orbital flight test. Three engines were disabled during the launch sequence and several more failed during the flight. The booster later lost
thrust vectoring control of the Raptor engines, which led to the rocket spinning out of control. Approximately 3 minutes after lift-off the rocket's
autonomous flight termination system was activated, though the vehicle tumbled for another 40 seconds before disintegrating. The first flight test blasted large amounts of sand and soil in the air, reaching communities within a radius. A brushfire on nearby state parkland also occurred, burning of state parkland.
Second flight test After the first test flight, SpaceX began work on the launch mount to repair the damage it sustained during the test and to prevent future issues. The foundation of the launch tower was reinforced and a water-powered
flame deflector was built under the launch mount.
Ship 25 and
Booster 9 were rolled to the suborbital and orbital launch sites in May to undergo multiple tests. On November 18, 2023, Booster 9 and Ship 25 lifted off the pad. All 33 engines continued to function until staging, where the second stage separated by pushing itself away from the first stage using a
hot-staging technique. Following separation, the Super Heavy booster completed its flip maneuver and initiated the boostback burn, but then experienced multiple successive engine failures and exploded. Blockage in a liquid oxygen filter caused one of the engines to fail in a way that resulted in the destruction of the booster, which occurred three and a half minutes into the flight at an altitude of ~90 km over the Gulf of Mexico. The second stage continued until it reached an altitude of ~, after over eight minutes of flight; before engine cutoff, telemetry was lost on the second stage. It appeared to re-enter a few hundred miles north of the
Virgin Islands, according to
NOAA weather radar data.
Third flight test Following the second flight test (which saw the loss of both stages), significant changes were implemented, including upgrading Starship's thrust vector control system to electric
thrust vector control (TVC) and measures to delay
liquid oxygen (LOX) Like flight 2, all 33 engines on the booster ignited and stage separation was successful. B10 conducted a
boostback burn, however, the planned
landing in the
Gulf of Mexico was not successful, as it exploded at above the surface. The Starship spacecraft itself, after reaching space and orbital velocity, conducted several tests after engine cutoff, including initiating a
propellant transfer demo and payload dispenser test. It attempted to
re-enter the atmosphere, and at an altitude of around , all telemetry from Ship 28 stopped, indicating a loss of the vehicle. This flight test demonstrated a cryogenic propellant transfer, by transferring propellant from the Ship's header tanks into its main tanks while in space, a technology which is required for Starship HLS to exit
Low Earth orbit (LEO). The result of this test was declared successful by NASA and SpaceX. Additional data analysis is occurring on the
fluid dynamics such as slosh and boil-off of the propellant.
Fourth flight test The fourth flight test of the full Starship configuration launched on June 6, 2024, at 7:50 a.m. CDT. The goals for the test flight were for the Super Heavy booster to land on a 'virtual tower' in the ocean, and for the Ship to survive peak heating during atmospheric reentry. The flight test was successful in both regards, with Super Heavy achieving a soft splashdown and Ship surviving atmospheric reentry and a controlled splashdown despite significant damage to the flight control surfaces.
Fifth flight test is successfully caught by the launch tower during flight test 5. In April 2024, Musk stated one of the goals was to attempt a booster tower landing based on successful booster performance in flight 4. Vehicle testing commenced in May 2024. SpaceX claimed that B12 and S30 were ready to launch in early August, in advance of regulatory approval. SpaceX flew S30 and B12 on October 13, 2024, with B12 returning to the launch site for a successful catch for the first time, and S30 successfully splashing down in the Indian Ocean.
Sixth flight test Ship 31 completed a successful cryogenic test in July 2024 and a static fire in September. Booster 13 completed similar tests in April and October. Flight 6 was flown on November 19, 2024, with a water landing of the booster rather than a catch. Flight 6 was the first to successfully conduct a Raptor engine relight in the vacuum of space, paving the way for
payload deployments on future flights.
Seventh flight test Ship 33 completed a successful cryogenic test in October 2024 and a static fire in late December. Its counterpart, Booster 14, also underwent cryogenic testing in October. Booster 14 rolled out to OLP-1 and conducted a successful spin prime test and static fire in early December. Flight 7 was flown on January 16, 2025; the mission profile for flight test 7 was expected to be similar to the previous launch, targeting a splashdown in the Indian Ocean after attempting an in-space engine relight. Ship 33 was also expected to deploy ten Starlink "simulators," which were also expected to reenter over the Indian Ocean. Contact with Ship 33 was lost shortly before its engines were scheduled to shut down. Subsequently, Ship 33 was seen exploding as it flew over the
Turks and Caicos Islands. The booster successfully returned to the launch site and was caught by the chopsticks on OLP-A.
Eighth flight test On March 3, 2025, a launch attempt was aborted after multiple holds at
T−40 seconds. Shortly before the scheduled launch at 6:45 p.m. CDT, an issue caused a hold for more than five minutes. The hold was briefly lifted, but a new hold was put in place due to issues connected to the Super Heavy booster. SpaceX called for a cancellation of the launch and set March 6 for the launch. The eighth flight test was later launched on March 6, 2025, at 23:30 hours UTC. The Super Heavy booster was successfully caught by the launch tower. During Ship 34's initial burn, four of its six engines experienced premature shutdowns that resulted in a loss of attitude control followed by a total loss of telemetry. The vehicle's breakup was observed from
Florida,
Jamaica, and the
Turks and Caicos Islands. According to SpaceX, communications with the spacecraft ended 9 minutes and 30 seconds after liftoff. The flight was the second of the Block 2 Ship, and attempted to repeat the previous flight's profile. Due to the breakup of the vehicles, the Federal Aviation Administration briefly issued ground stop orders for multiple Florida airports.
Ninth flight test Starship's
ninth flight test launched on May 27, 2025, with Booster 14, the program's first reused Super Heavy booster. The booster completed its ascent, executed a boost-back and entry burn and re-entered at a higher angle of attack than previous flights, but was lost before its planned splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Ship 35 reached engine cutoff, yet a propellant leak caused loss of attitude control preventing reignition of a raptor engine and the payload bay door failed to open preventing deployment of the dummy starlink satellites; the vehicle broke up during re-entry. Preliminary analysis suggested the failure of a composite-overwrapped pressure vessel (COPV) in the nose section, which ruptured and ignited methane and liquid-oxygen propellants. No personnel were injured, but SpaceX paused further testing to inspect Block 2 pressurization hardware and repair the damaged stand.
Tenth flight test Starship's
tenth flight test was scheduled for August 24, 2025, but was scrubbed shortly before liftoff. After a second aborted attempt on August 25, Flight 10 successfully launched on August 26. The booster completed the ascent, boostback, and landing burns despite losing an engine on ascent, and the ship deployed its payload, eight Starlink simulators. It then completed a relight of a single engine before reentry and successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean within a few meters of its target.
Eleventh flight test Starship's
eleventh flight test launched on October 13, 2025, mostly repeating the mission profile of the tenth flight, though with a different arrangement of intentionally missing tiles. The second booster to be reused, Booster 15-2 completed its ascent, boostback, and landing burns with a single engine failure during boostback. The failed engine later relit for the landing burn. After SECO, Ship 38 began performing its experiments, deploying eight Starlink simulators and relighting one of its engines before reentering Earth's atmosphere. During reentry, the ship conducted multiple banking maneuvers, including a simulated trajectory which will be used in future missions for ship catch. At approximately T+1:05:54, at an altitude of 1 km and descent speed of , the ship relit its three sea-level engines, flipped vertical, and softly splashed down before tipping over and exploding. This was the final launch of the Block 2 configuration of Starship and Super Heavy. == Cost and funding ==