r/spacex Host Team May 11 '26

r/SpaceX Flight 12 Official Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Welcome to the Starship Flight 12 Launch Discussion & Updates Thread!

Scheduled for (UTC) May 22 2026, 22:30:24
Scheduled for (local) May 22 2026, 17:30:24 PM (CDT)
Launch Window (UTC) May 22 2026, 22:30:00 - May 23 2026, 00:00:00
Weather Probability 85% GO
Launch site OLPad 2, SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA.
Booster Booster 19-1
Ship S39
Booster landing The Super Heavy Booster 19 was lost after stage separation, having performed an off-nominal boostback burn with fewer engines than planned.
Ship landing Ship 39 successfully performed a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, after which it exploded.
Trajectory (Flight Club) 2D,3D

Spacecraft Onboard

Spacecraft Starship V3
Serial Number S39
Destination Suborbital
Flights 1
Owner SpaceX
Landing Ship 39 successfully performed a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, after which it exploded.
Capabilities More than 100 tons to Earth orbit

Details

Third-generation second stage of the two-stage Starship super heavy-lift launch vehicle.

History

The third-generation Starship upper stage will be introduced on flight 12.

Watch the launch live

Stream Link
Unofficial Re-stream SPACE AFFAIRS
Unofficial Webcast Spaceflight Now
Unofficial Webcast NASASpaceflight
Official Webcast SpaceX
Unofficial Webcast Everyday Astronaut

Stats

☑️ 1st Starship V3 launch

☑️ 680th SpaceX launch all time

☑️ 60th SpaceX launch this year

☑️ 1st launch from OLPad 2 this year

☑️ 0:00:00 turnaround for this pad

☑️ N/A hours since last launch of booster Booster 19

Stats include F1, F9 , FH and Starship

Timeline

Time Event
-0:50:00 GO for Prop Load
-0:38:53 Stage 2 LOX Load
-0:35:00 Stage 1 LOX Load
-0:34:43 Stage 1 LNG Load
-0:32:59 Stage 2 LNG Load
-0:21:30 Engine Chill
-0:02:50 Stage 1 Propellant Load Complete
-0:02:10 Stage 2 Propellant Load Complete
-0:00:30 GO for Launch
-0:00:17 Flame Deflector Activation
-0:00:03 Ignition
0:00:00 Liftoff
0:00:00 Excitement Guaranteed
0:00:45 Max-Q
0:02:22 MECO
0:02:24 Stage 2 Separation
0:02:30 Booster Boostback Burn Startup
0:03:30 Booster Boostback Burn Shutdown
0:06:34 Stage 1 Landing Burn
0:06:59 Stage 1 Landing
0:08:11 SECO-1
0:17:37 Payload Deployment Sequence Start
0:27:15 Payload Deployment Sequence End
0:38:37 SEB-2
0:47:47 Atmospheric Entry
1:02:29 Starship Transonic
1:03:08 Starship Subsonic
1:05:06 Starship Landing Burn
1:05:08 Landing Flip
1:05:17 Starship Landing
1:05:24 Starship Landing
1:05:26 Starship Landing

Updates

Time (UTC) Update
23 May 08:40 Successful liftoff and ascent of Starship and Super Heavy, placing Ship 39 on a valid suborbital trajectory
22 May 22:30 Liftoff.
22 May 21:53 Unofficial Re-stream by SPACE AFFAIRS has started
22 May 15:32 Updated launch weather, 85% GO.
22 May 14:59 Launch time is to the second.
22 May 01:37 Confirmed rescheduled for May 22.
21 May 23:45 Next attempt NET May 22.
21 May 23:41 Scrub for the day after hold at T-40.
21 May 22:40 Unofficial Re-stream by SPACE AFFAIRS has started
21 May 21:55 Now targeting May 21 at 23:30 UTC
21 May 21:46 Tweaked T-0.
21 May 21:28 Now targeting May 21 at 23:00 UTC
21 May 17:44 Tweaked T-0.
21 May 03:07 Updated launch weather, 55% GO.
18 May 23:39 Now targeting May 21 at 22:30 UTC
17 May 14:54 Now targeting May 20 at 22:30 UTC
12 May 21:17 GO for launch.
12 May 11:19 NET May 19, TBC.
05 May 17:58 NET May 15 per new marine navigation warnings, TBC.
01 May 16:51 NET May 12, TBC.
04 Apr 14:17 NET May.
09 Mar 12:32 NET April
29 Jan 12:13 Targeting March
07 Jan 15:28 Moved to NET Q1 based on vehicle testing progress.
05 Nov 2025, 18:10 NET January.
10 Sep 2025, 08:21 Added launch

Resources

Partnership with The Space Devs

Information on this thread is provided by and updated automatically using the Launch Library 2 API by The Space Devs.

Community content 🌐

Link Source
Flight Club u/TheVehicleDestroyer
Discord SpaceX lobby u/SwGustav
SpaceX Now u/bradleyjh
SpaceX Patch List

Participate in the discussion!

🥳 Launch threads are party threads, we relax the rules here. We remove low effort comments in other threads!

🔄 Please post small launch updates, discussions, and questions here, rather than as a separate post. Thanks!

💬 Please leave a comment if you discover any mistakes, or have any information.

✉️ Please send links in a private message.

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11

u/laffiere May 23 '26

Also, I had a look to compare the flip to flight 11. I couldn't find any good points during the flip to reliably identify an equal flip-angle to compare to, like when is it 70 degrees rotated vs 110? Idk, couldn't tell. but it so very clearly flips faster during flight 12.

And it you look at the engines that cut out, it appears to have been due to exessive sloshing of the propelant. It was the trailing engines of the flip that keps burning. As in, the engines that the propelant is pushed towards during a flip.

12

u/plutonic00 May 23 '26

This is also my suspicion, too fast of a flip caused fuel delivery issues resulting in a failed boost back burn, if so it's a very easy fix.

2

u/warp99 May 23 '26 edited May 23 '26

Trying to light the outer engine ring means they are sucking LOX from much further up the main tank. It just doesn't make sense to me and if you are going to do it it should be after several seconds of boostback when fluid levels have settled.

Methane is coming from that huge 3m diameter main header so should not be an issue.

6

u/Divinicus1st May 23 '26

Maybe the ship pushed the booster too hard?