Elon Musk said SpaceX is once again delaying the 2026 debut of its Starship rocket.
The setback marks the third delay this year for Starship’s 12th test flight, as the company works on a larger, more advanced version designed for future missions to the Moon and potentially Mars.
Musk had initially pointed to a March launch from Starbase in Texas, later shifting the timeline to April. In his latest update, the target has now moved to May, roughly 4–6 weeks out.
The delay comes as SpaceX prepares for a potential IPO later this summer and intensifies its competition with Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin to build a lunar lander for NASA.
Standing over 400 feet tall, Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built and is designed to be fully reusable, capable of carrying large payloads and eventually transporting humans to the Moon and Mars.
Under NASA’s Artemis program, a modified version of Starship is expected to serve as a Human Landing System for future lunar missions, though delays have raised the possibility of increased reliance on Blue Origin’s alternative lander.