--- title: SpaceX scrubs Starship Flight 12 seconds before liftoff,... description: SpaceX's 12th Starship test flight on May 22 ended with the V3 Super Heavy booster failing to relight its engines and exploding over the Gulf of America. The... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-scrubs-starship-flight-12-seconds-before-liftoff-retry-set-for-may-21-987riicqr twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: SpaceX scrubs Starship Flight 12 seconds before liftoff, retry set for May 21 | daily.dev og:description: SpaceX's 12th Starship test flight on May 22 ended with the V3 Super Heavy booster failing to relight its engines and exploding over the Gulf of America. The... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-scrubs-starship-flight-12-seconds-before-liftoff-retry-set-for-may-21-987riicqr og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/987Riicqr.png og:image:alt: SpaceX scrubs Starship Flight 12 seconds before liftoff, retry set for May 21 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # SpaceX scrubs Starship Flight 12 seconds before liftoff, retry set for May 21 **[Collections](https://daily.dev/sources/collections)** · 3 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary SpaceX's 12th Starship test flight on May 22 ended with the V3 Super Heavy booster failing to relight its engines and exploding over the Gulf of America. The upper stage also broke apart on ocean splashdown, though no recovery was attempted. The FAA has grounded the program pending an investigation into the booster failure. The V3 generation features redesigned Raptor engines with more thrust and reduced propellant leaks, plus a revised booster geometry for tower catches. The timing is awkward: SpaceX filed its S-1 roughly three weeks prior, targeting a ~$1.75 trillion valuation. The IPO prospectus warns of test flight risks, but the S-1 also quietly acknowledges that full reusability isn't strictly required for next-gen Starlink satellites — undermining the core financial thesis that cheap reusable launches justify the valuation. Starlink itself is showing strain with slowing subscriber growth, falling ARPU, and rising competition from Amazon Kuiper. Flight 13 is tentatively scheduled for June, around when the IPO is expected to close. ## Content ## What happened on Flight 12 On May 22, SpaceX launched the 12th Starship test flight from Starbase, Texas — the first since October 2025 and the debut of the third-generation "V3" vehicle. The flight had already been scrubbed once, a few seconds before liftoff, when a hydraulic pin failure on the launch tower arm forced a 24-hour delay. The mission had a lot going for it early on. The upper stage successfully deployed 20 mock Starlink satellites, transmitted live video from space, and completed a Raptor engine relight in orbit. Engineers also ran heat shield experiments, including one tile intentionally removed to study how the surrounding tiles handle reentry stress. Then things went sideways. After stage separation, the Super Heavy booster failed to relight its engines, tumbled, and likely exploded over the Gulf of America. The upper stage also tipped over and broke apart on ocean splashdown — though that part was expected, since this flight wasn't attempting a catch or recovery of either vehicle. The ship also lost one of its six Raptor engines during flight. The FAA has since ordered SpaceX to investigate the booster failure. Starship is grounded until the investigation concludes and the FAA approves whatever corrective actions SpaceX proposes. ## What's new in V3 The V3 upgrade isn't cosmetic. The third-generation Raptor engines produce more thrust and are redesigned to reduce propellant leaks, which caused fires on earlier flights. The booster geometry was also revised to make it easier for the launch tower's mechanical arms to catch it — though no catch was attempted this time. The launch pad itself is new, built specifically for the V3 configuration. ## The IPO timing is awkward SpaceX filed its S-1 roughly three weeks before Flight 12, targeting a valuation around $1.75 trillion — which would make it one of the largest IPOs in history. The prospectus explicitly warns investors about test flight risks, so the booster loss probably won't derail the offering. Flight 13 is tentatively scheduled for June, which is also when the IPO is expected to close. But the S-1 filing revealed something more uncomfortable than a single test failure: the path to full Starship reusability is murkier than SpaceX has publicly suggested. ## The reusability problem The whole financial logic of Starship depends on reusability. Without it, launch costs don't drop dramatically below Falcon 9, and the cost advantages Elon Musk has built his long-term pitch around start to erode. The S-1 actually acknowledges that full reusability isn't strictly required for the next generation of Starlink satellites — which is a notable admission, because cheap reusable launches are supposed to be the point. This matters because Starlink's growth is already showing strain. Subscriber growth slowed in Q1 2026, average revenue per user dropped from $99 to $66, and Amazon's Kuiper network is starting to compete seriously. Analysts are also questioning whether the total addressable market for space-based broadband is as large as SpaceX has projected. If Starship stays expendable longer than planned, SpaceX can still launch Starlink satellites — it just costs more per launch, which compresses margins on a business that's already seeing pricing pressure. ## Where things stand The investigation timeline will determine whether Flight 13 happens before or after the IPO closes. SpaceX hasn't said how long the review will take. The booster failure is a real setback, but it's the kind of setback the program was designed to absorb — rapid iteration, accept losses, move fast. Whether that philosophy translates cleanly into a public company with institutional shareholders is a different question entirely. ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [SpaceX cleared to fly Starship again after booster failure in May](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-cleared-to-fly-starship-again-after-booster-failure-in-may-dhrqfkugm) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#spacex](https://daily.dev/tags/spacex) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-scrubs-starship-flight-12-seconds-before-liftoff-retry-set-for-may-21-987riicqr) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"SpaceX scrubs Starship Flight 12 seconds before liftoff, retry set for May 21","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-scrubs-starship-flight-12-seconds-before-liftoff-retry-set-for-may-21-987riicqr","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/spacex-scrubs-starship-flight-12-seconds-before-liftoff-retry-set-for-may-21-987riicqr"},"datePublished":"2026-05-22T00:10:50.407Z","dateModified":"2026-05-27T15:41:19.838Z","description":"SpaceX's 12th Starship test flight on May 22 ended with the V3 Super Heavy booster failing to relight its engines and exploding over the Gulf of America. 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