What time is SpaceX's Starship V3 launch on May 20? (Starship Flight 12 timeline)

SpaceX will attempt to launch its biggest and most powerful Starship megarocket ever on Wednesday (May 20), and if you're hoping to watch the launch live, we have the details you need to make sure you don't miss it. Called Flight 12, the Starship mission will lift off from SpaceX 's Starbase test site in the relatively new city of Starbase in South Texas. Liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday (May 20) during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT; 5:30 p.m. local time) . As its name suggests, Flight 12 will be SpaceX's 12th test flight of Starship, the world's biggest and most powerful rocket. It will be the first launch of the new Starship V3 design of the megarocket , which features a host of upgrades to make the more than 400-foot-tall (121 meters) rocket more powerful and effective. There's a been long gap since the last Starship launch, Starship Flight 11 in October . For comparison, SpaceX launched five Starship missions in 2025, but Flight 12 will be the first of 2026. SpaceX has a lot riding on this Starship V3 flight test. NASA has picked Starship to land its Artemis 4 astronauts on the moon in 2028, but SpaceX has yet to send a Starship into a full orbit around Earth since test flights began in 2023, let alone fly a vehicle capable of supporting an astronaut crew, in-orbit refueling, docking with an Orion capsule in orbit or landing on the lunar surface. Starship V3 is supposed to be the baseline for that vehicle. …