What's next for SpaceX's Starship V3 megarocket after its historic debut flight?

SpaceX's next-gen Starship megarocket finally got off the ground last week. On May 22, SpaceX's first Starship V3 ("Version 3") vehicle lifted off from a brand-new pad at the company's Starbase site in South Texas. It was the first Starship launch in more than seven months, a lag caused by the time it took to develop and incorporate V3's many upgrades over its predecessors. (The destruction of a V3 Super Heavy booster during testing in November didn't help, either.) Though Starship V3 suffered a few engine glitches on May 22, and its Super Heavy booster didn't steer itself down for a soft ocean splashdown as planned, SpaceX heralded the suborbital test flight as a success. That's a big deal, because V3 is expected to carry a heavy load for the company, and for NASA, in the coming years. Great expectations The 408-foot-tall (124.4 meters) Starship V3 is the biggest and most powerful iteration of Starship yet. It's the first variant of the vehicle outfitted with SpaceX's new Raptor 3 engine, the sleekest, lightest and brawniest Raptor that the company has built. V3 sports many other upgrades as well . For example, its Super Heavy first stage has an improved fuel-transfer system that allows the booster's 33 engines to fire more quickly, according to a May 12 SpaceX update . …