SpaceX just unveiled the 'Version 3' Starship, a 400ft beast with enough power to reach Mars

SpaceX is kicking off a make-or-break year by rolling out its ‘Version 3’ Starship, a rocket that could decide the fate of Artemis III and humanity’s next giant leap.

The company recently shared an image of the newly stacked Super Heavy booster for Starship Flight 12 at its Starbase facility in South Texas.

Towering at 400 feet when fully assembled, Starship remains the tallest and most powerful rocket ever built.

And after a year of delays, all eyes are now on whether SpaceX can finally keep it on schedule.

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There has been multiple delays so far

The upcoming Flight 12 mission, expected in the first quarter of 2026, will mark the debut of SpaceX’s ‘Version 3’ Super Heavy booster.

This upgraded booster is designed for higher performance, thanks to more powerful Raptor 3 engines, a lighter structure, and an integrated hot-staging system.

The original Version 3 booster was damaged during testing last November, forcing SpaceX to regroup and rebuild.

Now, with stacking complete, the company is back in the race.

That race matters more than ever.

Starship is central to NASA’s Artemis III mission, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon no earlier than 2027.

But recent delays have raised concerns inside NASA, prompting the agency to openly acknowledge it may consider alternative lunar landers.

Acting NASA chief Sean Duffy summed it up bluntly last year, saying SpaceX is behind schedule and that the US is ‘in a race against China’.

That pressure is coming from multiple directions.

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is preparing to attempt a lunar landing with its Mk1 lander early this year.

If successful, it could become a serious contender for Artemis III, putting even more urgency on SpaceX’s Starship program to deliver results.

SpaceX is thinking beyond the moon

According to the company, the Version 3 Starship is the first iteration capable of reaching Mars, a long-standing goal of Elon Musk.

With the next Earth–Mars launch window opening late this year, Musk has floated the idea of sending an uncrewed Starship to the Red Planet.

That ambition, however, hinges on one critical hurdle: orbital refueling.

Orbital refueling is essential for deep-space missions, and Musk has repeatedly called it a foundational technology for making humanity multiplanetary.

Yet demonstrations of the capability have been delayed multiple times and were originally expected last year.

SpaceX will almost certainly need to nail orbital refueling in 2026 to keep Artemis III alive, and to turn Starship into a true interplanetary spacecraft.

Whether it’s the Moon or Mars, 2026 is shaping up to be Starship’s most important year yet.

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