The first-ever launch of SpaceX's upgraded Starship rocket is about a month away, CEO Elon Musk says.
The company has been prepping "Version 3" of Starship for a while now, and is targeting early April for the rocket's debut test launch, which will be the 12th overall for the Starship program. "Starship V3 first flight in about 4 weeks," Musk said in a March 7 post on X.
The V3 upgrade makes significant changes to Starship's Super Heavy booster and Ship upper stage. Both are slightly taller than their predecessors and produce stronger, more efficient thrust using SpaceX's upgraded Raptor 3 rocket engine. Previous Starship iterations were already the biggest and most powerful rockets ever to launch, and V3 will continue to up the ante.
