SpaceX has officially retired Version 2 of Starship after its most recent flight test Monday, Oct 13, from Texas. Now? Get ready for Version 3.<\/p>\n
SpaceX’s next version of Starship<\/a>, the world’s largest rocket, will be even bigger and more advanced than any iteration of the spacecraft that has already launched 11 times from Texas<\/a>.<\/p>\n At least, that’s according to promises and visions that SpaceX billionaire founder Elon Musk<\/a> and other company officials have stated before retiring the vehicle’s second-ever design.<\/p>\n Starship’s Version 2 managed to complete its comeback story during its final test flight from SpaceX’s Starbase headquarters near the U.S-Mexico border. The spacecraft’s fifth test of the year was its second successful in a row following a string of three explosive failures earlier in 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now? Get ready for Version 3.<\/p>\n SpaceX teased the next-generation vehicle that could reach the moon and Mars<\/a> during its live webcast of a Starship mission known as flight 11<\/a>, which got off the ground Monday, Oct. 13.<\/p>\n Here’s everything to know about the V3 Starship<\/a>, SpaceX’s next-generation iteration of the megarocket.<\/p>\n What is Starship? How big is megarocket?<\/p>\n Starship is regarded as the world’s largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, a record previously held by NASA’s<\/a>\u00a0retired 363-foot-tall\u00a0Saturn V<\/a> that powered the iconic Apollo lunar program.<\/p>\n The second design of Starship, known as Version 2, stands at 403 feet tall when fully stacked<\/a>. The fully integrated launch system is\u00a0composed of a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper stage Starship, the spacecraft where crew and cargo would ride.<\/p>\n SpaceX is developing\u00a0Starship<\/a>\u00a0to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions.<\/p>\n In the years ahead, Starship is\u00a0set to serve a pivotal role in U.S. spaceflight.<\/p>\n Starship is the centerpiece of\u00a0Musk’s\u00a0vision of sending the first humans to Mars<\/a>, with plans for the first uncrewed Starship to head to the Red Planet as early as 2026.<\/p>\n A configuration of the vehicle is also critical in NASA’s plans to\u00a0return astronauts to the moon’s surface<\/a>. The U.S. space agency has designs on using Starship to\u00a0ferry Artemis III astronauts from an Orion capsule in orbit to the lunar surface<\/a>\u00a0as early as 2027.<\/p>\n SpaceX builds multiple V3 Starship vehicles, Super Heavy boosters<\/p>\n The next iteration of Starship spacecraft, already under production in Texas, may be even bigger.<\/p>\n Musk, in delivering public updates in May in front of employees at Starbase \u2013 SpaceX’s headquarters and company town in South Texas<\/a> \u2013 indicated that Version 3 could be around 408 feet tall when fully stacked<\/a>.<\/p>\n And that’s not all. During SpaceX’s live webcast of flight 11, Dan Huot, SpaceX’s communications manager, briefly described<\/a> some “really significant changes” coming for Version 3 of Starship.<\/p>\n That includes an overhaul under the hood to Starship’s upper stage, which otherwise bears a similar sleek aesthetic to what has already flown. Super Heavy is also getting a redesign, including a new fuel transfer tube that channel fuels to its engines, Huot said.<\/p>\n SpaceX has previously unveiled in a\u00a0post on X<\/a> that the next Super Heavy booster will feature three grid fins to help it land instead of four<\/a>, which the company said\u00a0will improve “vehicle control while enabling the booster to descend at higher angles of attack.” The fins are 50% larger and “higher strength” than previous versions, according to SpaceX.<\/p>\n “This is building on everything we’ve learned from all these flight tests to make a vehicle that we’re looking to mass produce,” Huot said during the livestream.<\/p>\n Starship Version 3 could be the one to reach orbit, refuel midflight<\/p>\n SpaceX said on its website<\/a> that the next generation Starship could be the first to reach orbit.<\/p>\n So far across 11 tests, Starship has flown at a much lower subortibal trajectory beyond Earth’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n Future iterations of Starship will also need to demonstrate the ability for the upper stage to refuel in orbit, which is\u00a0necessary for it to reach distant destinations<\/a>. The process is a complex one requiring two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet up in orbit to transfer hundreds of tons of super-cooled propellant, according to SpaceX.<\/p>\n Additionally, SpaceX intends for Starship Version 3 to be the one with an upper stage capable of returning and landing at the launch site.<\/p>\n If that sounds familiar, it’s because SpaceX has already proven during three tests that it’s capable of catching a returning Super Heavy booster at the company’s colossal “mechazilla” tower equipped with massive robotic arms \u2013 nicknamed “chopsticks.”<\/p>\n In fact, the previous two Starship launches have tested mid-flight upper stage maneuvers necessary to pull off the feat.<\/p>\n Next-gen Starship will launch bigger Starlink satellites<\/p>\n In the past two Starship flight tests, SpaceX has succeeded in having the vehicle deploy eight mock Starlink satellites above Earth’s atmosphere, where they eventually burned up.<\/p>\n For years, SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9, a two-stage 230-foot rocket, has been the sole rocket capable of launching and deploying Starlink satellites<\/a> into a rapdily growing constellation essential to the company’s lucrative internet business.<\/p>\n Now, SpaceX says Version 3<\/a> of Starship will be crucial in launching heavier Starlink satellites that wil expand connectivity to its customers.<\/p>\n The larger V3 @Starlink<\/a> satellites that will deploy from Starship will bring gigabit connectivity to users and are designed to add 60 Tera-bits-per-second of downlink capacity to the Starlink network.<\/p>\n That’s more than 20 times the capacity added with every V2 Mini launch on\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/N0Vl9psbm3<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n When is the next Starship launch date? What to know about flight 12<\/p>\n Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and COO, said at a conference in Paris last month\u00a0that she expected the next iteration of Starship to fly by year’s end or early next year,\u00a0Reuters reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n SpaceX has also indicated its desire to launch Starship from Florida potentially before the end of 2025, but has not provided an update on that plan since March.<\/p>\n While no official target launch date has been set for the Sunshine State, plans to\u00a0expand Starship operations to Florida<\/a>\u00a0have continued. SpaceX is in the process of getting approval for Starship launches from both the Kennedy Space Center, where it is developing more infrastructure, as well as the Cape Canaveral Space Force Base.<\/p>\n Contributing: Reuters<\/p>\n Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com<\/p>\n\n