Starship V3 First Flight Targeting April 2026 — Raptor V3 Engines Fly for the First Time

SpaceX is weeks away from one of the most consequential rocket tests in recent memory. According to a roundup posted by prominent Tesla and SpaceX tracker Sawyer Merritt, April 2026 is the target window for the first test flight of Starship V3 — and it will simultaneously mark the inaugural flight of the Raptor V3 engine. That's two major milestones in a single launch attempt.

This is Flight 12 in the Starship program — and it's shaping up to be the most technically ambitious yet. Here's everything confirmed so far and what it signals for the program going forward.

📊 Key Figures

Metric	Value	Context
Target Flight Window	April 2026	Flight 12 of the Starship program
Vehicle Height	124.4 m (408.1 ft)	Taller than Starship V2
Payload to LEO (reusable)	200 tons	Up from ~35 tons on V2
Raptor V3 Thrust	280 tf per engine	First flight-intent test
Booster	Super Heavy Booster 19	10-engine static fire completed March 16
Upper Stage	Ship 39	Cryoproof and squeeze tests completed

Where the Hardware Stands Right Now

This isn't just a calendar target — there's real hardware progress backing it up. On March 16, 2026, SpaceX conducted the first static fire test of a V3 vehicle at the newly activated Pad 2 at Starbase, briefly igniting 10 Raptor V3 engines on Booster 19. The test concluded early due to a ground-side issue, but SpaceX confirmed a "successful startup on all installed Raptor 3 engines" — a meaningful result for a first attempt with an entirely new engine variant.

The next milestone for Booster 19 is a full 33-engine static fire, requiring the installation of the remaining 23 Raptor V3 engines. Meanwhile, Ship 39 — the upper stage assigned to this flight — has already completed cryoproofing and structural squeeze tests, validating its redesigned propellant system and airframe integrity. A Ship 39 static fire is also expected before the flight attempt.

Pad 2 itself is newly constructed and represents a significant infrastructure investment: it's designed to double Starbase's launch capacity, and its activation campaign — including initial cryogenic fuel and oxidizer loading — has already been completed.

What Makes Starship V3 Different

Starship V3 isn't an incremental update. The numbers tell the story: a target payload capacity of 200 tons to Low Earth Orbit with full reusability — compared to approximately 35 tons on V2. That's nearly a 6x increase, and it fundamentally changes what's possible with a single launch.

The vehicle stands 124.4 meters (408.1 feet) tall, slightly taller than its predecessor, and has been redesigned with a focus on manufacturability and rapid reusability. It also incorporates expanded propellant capacity and is built with on-orbit refueling capability — a prerequisite for deep-space missions including NASA's Artemis lunar lander contract.

The Raptor V3 engine is the core of this leap. Each engine is rated at 280 ton-force of thrust, and with 33 engines on the Super Heavy booster, the combined thrust output is extraordinary. This will be the first time Raptor V3 engines have flown on a flight-intent vehicle — meaning April's test carries double the stakes.

🔭 The BASENOR Take

April 2026 is an ambitious but credible target. The hardware is real, the pad is active, and SpaceX has demonstrated it can move quickly when the infrastructure is in place. The 10-engine static fire on March 16 — even ending early — showed that Raptor V3 starts cleanly, which is the hardest part of validating a new engine design.

The remaining gating items are the full 33-engine booster static fire, the Ship 39 static fire, and FAA launch licensing. SpaceX has navigated the licensing process before, but regulatory timelines are always the least predictable variable in this program.

What's notable about this flight is the compounding of risk: a new vehicle architecture, a new engine variant, and a new launch pad — all in one attempt. That's by design. SpaceX's philosophy has always been to test aggressively and iterate fast. If April holds, the data from this flight will accelerate the V3 development cadence significantly.

For Tesla owners tracking the broader Elon Musk ecosystem, April is shaping up to be a genuinely historic month — Starship V3's debut sits alongside Cybercab production start, FSD V14.3, and a potential European FSD approval on the same calendar page. The pace of development across these programs is unlike anything we've seen before. Follow our SpaceX coverage as the April window approaches.

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Sources verified at publish time. Spotted an inaccuracy? Email editorial@basenor.com.