SpaceX fires up next-gen 'V3' Starship for 1st time ahead of April launch (photos)

On Monday (March 16), the company conducted a static fire test with Starship's "Super Heavy" first stage, briefly igniting the booster's engines while the vehicle remained anchored to Pad 2 at SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas.

It was the first-ever static fire for a Version 3 (V3) vehicle — the latest iteration of Starship, which SpaceX is developing to help humanity put boots on the moon and Mars. The test broke ground in another way as well: It was the first to occur at Pad 2, which will double Starbase's launch capacity when it comes online.

"Initial Super Heavy V3 and Starbase Pad 2 activation campaign complete, wrapping up several days of testing that loaded cryogenic fuel and oxidizer on a V3 vehicle for the first time," SpaceX wrote via X on Wednesday (March 18), in a post that shared four photos of the Super Heavy, known as Booster 19, on the pad.