WATCH LIVE: SpaceX to launch 12th flight test of Starship rocket tonight

SpaceX's Starship Flight 12 launches on May 22 with liftoff at 4:00 am IST on May 23, debuting an entirely new rocket design powered by Raptor 3 engines. Here is everything you need to know to watch the historic launch live.

In Short

• Liftoff is targeted for 4:00 am IST on May 23.
• Watch live on SpaceX's website and on X
• SpaceX debuts the all-new Starship V3 rocket design.

SpaceX is back with another landmark moment, but it has been a long time coming.

On May 23, the American aerospace company will finally launch the 12th flight test of its Starship rocket, after a series of delays that stretched the wait to nearly seven months since the last test flight in October 2025.

Elon Musk first indicated back in January that Starship was on track for a March liftoff, but at the start of March he pushed that target to April, and by April he had shifted it again to sometime in May.

Even then, the launch did not go smoothly on the calendar, with the debut first pushed from May 19 to May 20, then again to May 21, before finally landing on May 23.

The repeated slips were initially thought to be linked to Musk’s diplomatic visit to China with US President Donald Trump, but they appear to stem from technical preparations and testing of Starship’s new ground systems.

Notably, neither Musk nor SpaceX has offered a full public explanation for the delays. The wait, however, may well be worth it. This one is unlike any before it.

For the first time, the next-generation Starship and Super Heavy vehicles will take flight, powered by the upgraded Raptor 3 engine and launching from a brand-new pad at Starbase in Texas.

The 90-minute launch window opens at 4:00 am IST on May 23. Yes, that means a very early alarm if you want to catch liftoff live. But trust us, it is worth it.

HOW TO WATCH STARSHIP’S TWELFTH FLIGHT TEST

SpaceX will broadcast the entire flight test live on its website and on X.

The webcast begins approximately 45 minutes before liftoff, so tune in from around 3:15 am IST on May 23 to catch the pre-launch build-up.

WHAT MAKES FLIGHT 12 SPECIAL

This is not just another rocket launch. Flight 12 debuts what SpaceX calls Starship V3, a ground-up redesign of the entire system.

The Super Heavy booster now carries three larger grid fins instead of four, a redesigned fuel transfer tube roughly the size of a Falcon 9 first stage, and will take off from a completely new launch pad.

Raptor 3 engines now produce 250 tonnes of force at sea level, up from 230 tonnes previously.

WHEN TO WATCH: YOUR MINUTE-BY-MINUTE GUIDE

The countdown begins in the early hours of May 23. Propellant loading kicks off at around 3:10 am IST. Liftoff is targeted for 4:00 am IST.

After launch, at approximately 4:00:45 am, the rocket will experience Max Q, the moment of peak aerodynamic stress, essentially the point where the forces trying to tear the rocket apart are at their strongest.

By 4:02:22 am, most of Super Heavy's engines will be cut off, followed almost immediately by hot-staging at 4:02:24 am.

Hot-staging is a technique where the upper stage's engines ignite while still attached to the booster, pushing the two apart rather than waiting for a clean separation. It is as dramatic as it sounds.

Super Heavy's boostback burn, which reverses the booster's direction to send it back toward the Gulf of America, runs from 4:02:30 am to 4:03:30 am IST.

The booster's landing burn, its final deceleration before splashdown, takes place between 4:06:34 am and 4:06:59 am IST.

Notably, because this is a new vehicle design, the booster will not attempt a return to the launch site for mechanical arm catch this time around.

Meanwhile, the Starship upper stage will deploy 22 payloads, including 20 Starlink simulator satellites and two specially modified Starlink satellites designed to image the rocket's own heat shield.

This deployment phase runs from 4:17:37 am to 4:27:15 am IST. A single Raptor engine will then attempt a relight in space at 4:38:37 am IST, a critical test for future interplanetary missions.

Starship re-enters Earth's atmosphere at 4:47:47 am IST, going transonic at 5:02:29 am and subsonic at 5:03:08 am. The landing sequence begins at 5:05:06 am IST, concluding at approximately 5:05:26 am IST.

WHY THIS MATTERS

SpaceX's Starship is the rocket humanity hopes to use for missions to the Moon and Mars.

Nasa has selected it as the lunar lander for the Artemis programme. Every flight test, even those that do not go perfectly, feeds directly into making that future possible.

Flight 12 is the first flight for an entirely new generation of hardware. As SpaceX puts it: excitement guaranteed.

Set that alarm.

- Ends