The launch of the SpaceX Starship V3 appeared to be going according to plan. It was launched last Fridaymade a fake satellite launch and returned to Earth. Based on the launch of the broadcast, everything seems to be going according to plan. It turns out that was not the case, as the FAA has begun an investigation, and the Starship V3 has been grounded until the investigation is completed.
According to the FAA, the error occurred after launch when the Starship V3 boosters returned to the Gulf of Mexico. Boosters fall hard in what the FAA calls a “danger zone.” This caused several departure delays and five flight delay events, which is FAA-speak meaning that planes had to fly a holding pattern until things calmed down.
SpaceX is required to conduct an “improper investigation.” The FAA oversees that investigation and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including corrective actions, before SpaceX can conduct another Starship V3 launch.
The incident comes as SpaceX faces possible scrutiny after it filed last week what may be the largest public offering ever. The IPO could value the company at $1.75 trillion, enough to make CEO Elon Musk the first ever trillionaire. But it also opens the company — which houses internet providers Starlink, Grok-maker xAI and X (formerly known as Twitter) — to the scrutiny and critical judgment of Wall Street investors.
An unexpectedly painful return to Earth
You can see the incident as part of SpaceX’s live stream of the launch, and SpaceX details it on Flight 12’s tracker webpage. “After stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver and attempted to burn the boostback,” SpaceX said. “Couldn’t light up all the scheduled engines and did the boostback part which ended prematurely.”
There is not much drama in the pictures, as the Super Heavy booster spreads through the water without slowing down much. The rest of the Starship V3 mission went off without a hitch, including a controlled descent into the Indian Ocean a few hours later.
It’s not a rarity for SpaceX
SpaceX often flies in the FAA’s error investigation logs. The Starship and Super Heavy boosters alone have sparked seven such probes so far, and four of them require corrective action before the Starship and Super Heavy can fly again. One of those four required 17 corrective actions alone. The Falcon 9 rocket, which launched SpaceX and other companies into orbit 165 times by 2025, was grounded in February 2026 pending another FAA investigation.
Starship V3 is planned to be SpaceX’s flagship spacecraft. It was penciled in as a lunar landing craft during the Artemis IV mission, which is scheduled to be the first human landing on the moon since 1972. It will also be responsible for launching Starlink V3 satellites it is expected to provide gigabit internet connection speed.
Given the outcome of past inquiries, the FAA investigation is unlikely to cause enough drama to impact those plans or SpaceX’s IPO.