SpaceX just fired up its 33-engine Starship 'V3' Super Heavy rocket booster. When could it fly? (video)

SpaceX's Starship megarocket may indeed get off the ground next week. The company is apparently targeting May 15 for the test flight, which will be the 12th for Starship overall but the first for the new, more powerful "Version 3" of the giant vehicle. SpaceX cleared a big hurdle on the path to liftoff on Thursday (May 7), conducting a static-fire test with Starship's Super Heavy first stage at its Starbase site in Texas. The company lit up all 33 of Super Heavy's Raptor engines while the booster remained anchored to the pad — and everything apparently went well. SpaceX conducts a static fire test with its Starship V3 Super Heavy booster on May 7, 2026. (Image credit: SpaceX) "Full duration and full thrust 33-engine static fire with Super Heavy V3," SpaceX wrote in a Thursday post on X that shared two videos of the 14-second-long test. (One video is about a minute long, but it seems to be a slow-motion version of the trial.) This was the first successful full-up static fire test for a V3 Super Heavy. SpaceX performed a 10-engine trial with the same booster in March and ramped up to a 33-engine test on April 15 . Both of those static fires ended early, however, due to issues with ground equipment. The Starship upper stage (known as "Ship") that will launch on Flight 12 already has a successful static fire under its belt: It ignited all six of its Raptors on April 14 . Another view of the May 7 Super Heavy static fire. …