EXPLORE THE COSMOS

After a dramatic scrub Thursday at T-minus 40 seconds due to a hydraulic pin failure on the launch tower arm, SpaceX successfully launched Starship Flight 12 on Friday, May 22 at 6:30 PM EDT — the debut flight of the new Starship Version 3 from the brand-new Pad 2 at Starbase, Texas. Despite losing one of six vacuum Raptor engines and an off-nominal booster boostback burn that sent Super Heavy Booster 19 spinning into the Gulf of Mexico in an uncontrolled impact, the upper stage Ship 39 compensated, burned longer, reached its intended suborbital trajectory, deployed 22 dummy Starlink satellites, and splashed down successfully in the Indian Ocean. Elon Musk called it "epic." The launch also came as SpaceX filed its IPO prospectus — noting it had invested more than $15 billion into Starship development. Flight 13 (Ship 40) is already being prepared.