Starship flight test 12 will be the twelfth flight test of a SpaceX Starship launch vehicle, using Booster 19 and Ship 39. Flight 12 will feature the first use of Block 3 vehicles, as well as being the first launch from Starbase’s second launch pad.
Its trajectory is more southerly to allow any potential debris to fall back into the open ocean, in the middle of the Caribbean, rather than towards inhabited areas. The ship will splash down in the Indian Ocean, such as previous flights. The flight was originally supposed to use Booster 18, but it was destroyed shortly before cryogenic testing, resulting in B19 becoming the flight vehicle.
Background:
Vehicle testing ahead of launch Booster 18 and implosion
B18 assembly took place from May through October 2025 in Mega Bay 1. On November 20, it was rolled out to the Massey test site for its cryo testing campaign.However, during ambient temperature pressure testing on November 21, a COPV in one of the chines failed and the resultant shrapnel ruptured the LOX tank and damaged the LCH4 downcomer. It was then scrapped a few days later.
Booster 19
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B19 began stacking on November 27, 2025, with it being fully stacked on December 24. Booster 19 rolled to Massey’s for cryogenic testing on February 1, 2026. This testing occurred shortly after arriving at Massey’s where it completed an ambient gas pressure testing followed by a partial cryo and three full cryo. The booster returned to Mega Bay 1 on February 9. It rolled to launch site on March 8, 2026 for engine testing. It was lifted hours after and only had 10 engines. It conducted a tanking test followed by DSS and deluge activation on March 10, and conducted another tanking test with DSS activation, followed by a potential Spin Prime test on the 12th. It was lifted off the OLM for inspections, lifted on the 14th, conducted an ignitor test on the 15th and conducted a 10 engine Static Fire on the 16th. This test was aborted after ~0.37s due to a Ground Support Equipment issue, engines however successfully started. It rolled then back to Mega Bay 1 for installation of the 23 remaining engines. On April 11, it returned to the launch site with all thirty three engines, where it underwent either a cryogenic test or spin prime on april 12.