Elon Musk says SpaceX is bumping Starship's 2026 debut once again

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SpaceX chief Elon Musk said the commercial spaceflight company is bumping the 2026 debut launch of its massive Starship rocket yet again.

The delay marks the third time that Starship's 12th overall test flight has slipped this year amid preparations for SpaceX to roll out a larger and more advanced version of a rocket due to reach the moon and, perhaps, Mars.

Musk, the billionaire who founded the company in 2002, first indicated in January that Starship was on track for a March liftoff from SpaceX's Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas. But at the beginning of March, Musk indicated that projected test flight was now being targeted for April.

In the latest update in April, the tech mogul and world's richest man announced that SpaceX was now working toward a Starship launch sometime in May.

The news comes as SpaceX prepares for its first-ever public offering on the stock market later this summer, and as a race heats up between it and rival billionaire Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to develop a lunar lander for NASA.

Here's everything to know about Starship's next mission, which SpaceX refers to as flight 12.

When is the next Starship launch? Elon Musk pushes date to May

Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, said in an April 3 post on social media site X that Starship's next flight test was "4 to 6 weeks away."

Considering the timing of the post, that would mean the launch is now being targeted for early to mid-May. Neither Musk nor SpaceX have disclosed reasons for the delays.

As it has 11 times already, the Starship rocket would get off the ground from Starbase, SpaceX's company town and headquarters in Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.

What is SpaceX's Starship rocket?

Standing at more than 400 feet tall when fully stacked, Starship is regarded as the largest and most powerful launch vehicle in the world.

SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions. The fully integrated spacecraft is composed of both a lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy that provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff, as well as an upper stage simply called Starship, which is the vehicle where crew and cargo would ride.

How could Starship be used on Artemis moon missions?

In the years ahead, Starship is due to help NASA astronauts land on the moon under the U.S. space agency's Artemis program.

SpaceX is working on a lunar lander iteration of Starship known as the Human Landing System (HLS) that could ferry astronauts from lunar orbit down to the moon's surface. That mission, known as Artemis IV, is targeted for 2028 and would be the first time humans stepped on the moon since NASA's Apollo era ended more than 50 years ago.

But amid concerns that development has lagged, NASA appears to now be considering using competitor Blue Origin's experimental lunar lander known as Blue Moon instead. Under the Artemis III planned for 2027, astronauts aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft are due to dock in Earth orbit with one or both the landers in a critical test that would precede a moon landing a year later.

Musk also has dreams of Starship being the vehicle that transports the first humans to Mars, though in February he announced SpaceX's intentions of shifting its focus to building a lunar city first.

SpaceX plans to go public with IPO

SpaceX has became the cornerstone of Musk's business empire. And as Starship's development continues, SpaceX is preparing a highly-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) that is widely considered to be capable of making the company one of the most valuable in the world.

According to reporting from Reuters, SpaceX is leaning toward listing its shares as early as June on the tech-heavy exchange Nasdaq. The New York Stock Exchange is also competing for the listing, the outlet reported.

What happened with Starship in 2025?

SpaceX conducted five Starship flight tests in 2025, the first three of which ended in disaster when the vehicle met a premature fiery demise before completing many key objectives.

But SpaceX ended 2025 on a high note, with its final two Starship launches of the year in August and October being considered inarguable successes.

The most recent Starship test, taking place Oct. 13, was also the final flight for that iteration of the rocket, known as Version 2.

What's next for SpaceX, Starship in 2026? Version 3 to make debut

SpaceX's next prototype of Starship, known as Version 3, is expected to make its debut during flight 12 from Starbase.

At about 408 feet tall, Version 3 is expected to not only be slightly larger than its predecessor but considerably more powerful, according to Musk.

If all goes to plan, Version 3 (V3) could be the Starship model to reach orbit and also refuel its upper stage midflight. The complex process, requiring two Starships equipped with docking adapters to meet up in orbit to transfer hundreds of tons of super-cooled propellant, is necessary for Starship to reach distant destinations like Mars.

Contributing: Reuters

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: SpaceX delays Starship's 2026 debut once again, Elon Musk says