Elon Musk has confirmed that the Starship vehicle will launch again next month, reiterating SpaceX's highly ambitious timeline for the first flight of the Starship V3 rocket.
Musk posted a brief message on X, stating, "Starship launches next month." The CEO's post included a video showing the spacecraft's Super Heavy booster being successfully captured by the launch tower at the Starbase facility in Texas.
This schedule is drawing significant attention. In late January, Musk indicated that the next Starship flight—the 12th test flight—was expected in approximately six weeks, which aligns with a March timeframe. This projection is consistent with SpaceX's previous stance that the 12th test flight is "still targeting the first quarter of 2026."
If the rocket launches next month, it will mark the debut of the Starship V3 version. This upgraded platform will be equipped with the new Raptor V3 engines.
The Raptor V3 is designed to provide significantly greater thrust than its predecessors while reducing both cost and weight. The overall Starship V3 will also be optimized for manufacturability—a crucial step for SpaceX to achieve mass production and support the high-frequency launch demands of the Starlink network, lunar missions, and eventual Mars missions.
It is widely believed that Starship V3 will advance the program from the testing phase into genuine large-scale operational use. Previous versions have undergone multiple integrated flight tests with mixed but overall steady progress. General expectations are that SpaceX is currently focused on refining and optimizing the Starship system.
The aggressive launch schedule supports several core objectives simultaneously: accelerating the deployment of the next-generation Starlink satellite constellation, supporting NASA's Artemis lunar program, and enabling steady progress toward SpaceX's long-term goals for the Moon and Mars.