The US space enterprise is desperately waiting for Starship—will it finally deliver?

SpaceX's Starship completed three years of explosive tests and redesigns before launching its twelfth test flight in May 2026 , with the company's IPO approaching, requiring successful demonstrations of Starship's ability to deploy larger Starlink satellite fleets, establish lunar bases, and support AI-related space infrastructure . If completed as designed, Starship would be the first fully reusable orbital rocket and have the highest payload capacity of any launch vehicle to date .

Source: Ars Technica | 2026-05-18