SpaceX Launches 12th Starship Test Flight Ahead of Planned $75 Billion IPO

SpaceX successfully launched its Starship V3 rocket on Friday, marking the vehicle's 12th test flight and its first in seven months, as the company prepares for a public market debut expected to raise around $75 billion next month.

A 90-minute launch window opened at 6:30 p.m. ET, and the rocket lifted off at that time from SpaceX's facility in Starbase, Texas — one day after a scrubbed attempt prompted by technical issues.

The flight is the first for Starship since a string of explosions and other setbacks in early 2025 that disrupted air travel due to falling debris. Friday's mission carried mock Starlink satellites but no astronauts and no customer cargo.

SpaceX disclosed its IPO prospectus on Wednesday. According to that filing, the company was valued at $1.25 billion in February, when it merged with xAI, Elon Musk's artificial intelligence startup, and is expected to raise approximately $75 billion in an offering slated for next month.

In the filing, SpaceX described Starship as a system "designed to deliver 100 metric tons to Earth's orbit in a fully reusable configuration while enabling rapid turnaround times akin to commercial aviation."

The rocket, the largest ever built or flown, is comprised of the Starship upper stage vehicle, the Super Heavy booster, and Raptor engines. The upper stage is designed to be fully reusable and capable of transporting both cargo and passengers — including NASA astronauts, whom SpaceX plans to land on the moon in 2028.

Starship's size gives it a meaningful operational advantage over SpaceX's existing Falcon 9 system. The company said it plans to use the larger vehicle to launch additional satellites into its Starlink constellation, with the goal of extending reliable wireless internet coverage to customers in dense urban areas.

Last year, SpaceX launched more than 3,000 satellites across 122 Falcon 9 missions. Starship can carry and release a greater number of satellites per trip than the Falcon 9, underscoring its importance to the company's commercial broadband ambitions.

The timing of Friday's test flight — days after the IPO filing became public — reinforces how central Starship's technical progress is to SpaceX's pitch to prospective investors. A reliable, reusable heavy-lift vehicle is foundational to the revenue forecasts the company is placing before the public markets.

With the IPO expected next month and the NASA lunar mission on the 2028 horizon, the performance of Starship's remaining test program will be closely watched by both regulators and the investment community alike.

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