SpaceX gives Starship megarocket a redesign ahead of next flight. When will it launch?

• SpaceX has announced plans to conduct the 10th flight test of its Starship spacecraft Sunday, Aug. 24, from Starbase, Texas.
• SpaceX also revealed a redesign to a future generation of Starship earlier in August after the first three test flights of 2025 all ended in dramatic explosions in the sky.
• Starship is the centerpiece of Elon Musk's vision of sending the first humans to Mars, and is also critical in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon's surface.

Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of this article misstated when the booster redesigns for Starship will be implemented during a flight test.

Starship is due to soar halfway across the world in a matter of days.

SpaceX has announced a target launch date for a mission referred to as Flight 10, a crucial test for the gigantic 400-foot spacecraft.

For one thing, it has been nearly three months since SpaceX last launched an uncrewed flight test from Texas for a vehicle that was intended to begin launching more frequently in 2025. And for another, the commercial spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk has struggled this year to repeat the successes of earlier Starship test flights.

The first two Starship launches of 2025 ended with the vehicle's upper stage, where astronauts would one day ride, exploding minutes into the missions. Though Starship streaked further through suborbital space during the most recent May 27 launch, the vehicle still met an untimely end when it spun out of control about halfway through its flight without achieving some of its most important objectives.

SpaceX's 10th flight test since April 2023 was then delayed June 18 when the upper stage, simply known as Starship, unexpectedly exploded on the test stand before it was mounted to the rocket booster.

But the next generation of Starships may look a little different from what takes off now from Starbase. As SpaceX gears up for the highly anticipated mission, here's what to know about how the company is redesigning a future generation of the spacecraft for better performance.

When is the next Starship launch from Starbase in Texas?

SpaceX has announced plans for Starship's10th flight test for Sunday, Aug. 24, with a target liftoff time of 6:30 p.m. CT.

SpaceX launches Starship test flights from the company's Starbase headquarters in South Texas, about 23 miles from Brownsville near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Starbase, which Texas voters in Cameron County approved in May to become its own town, attracted some controversy in June when commissioners with the city of Starbase voted unanimously to close several of the city’s public streets to outsiders, angering longtime residents and property owners.

Musk had long been hinting on social media that a flight test for Starship was due in August. Most recently, the tech mogul had suggested Aug. 1 on X, the social media platform he owns, that the launch could take place in the middle of the month.

SpaceX redesigns Starship ahead of Flight 10

SpaceX also revealed a redesign to Starship earlier in August after the first three test flights of 2025 ended in dramatic explosions in the sky.

For the next generation of Starship vehicles, the Super Heavy booster will feature three grid fins to help it land instead of four, which SpaceX said in a post on X will improve "vehicle control while enabling the booster to descend at higher angles of attack." The fins are 50% larger and "higher strength" than previous versions, according to SpaceX.

Though SpaceX does not plan to return Flight 10's booster to the launch site, the company said the new fins are positioned lower on the booster to align with the mechanical "catch arms" on the tower that has caught Super Heavy in three demonstrations.

What is Starship? What to know about explosions in 2025

SpaceX is developing Starship to be a fully reusable transportation system, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for further missions.

In the years ahead, Starship is set to serve a pivotal role in future U.S. spaceflight. Starship is the centerpiece of Musk's vision of sending the first humans to Mars. It is also crucial in NASA's plans to return astronauts to the moon's surface.

But the next-generation spacecraft has yet to reach orbit on any of its nine uncrewed flight tests, which began in 2023.

SpaceX received key regulatory approval earlier in 2025 to conduct up to 25 Starship tests a year, after which Musk took to social media to proclaim that the vehicle's next three launches would occur much faster than normal – at a cadence of one "every 3 to 4 weeks."

How big is Starship?

The Starship, standing nearly 400 feet tall when fully stacked, is regarded as the world’s largest and most powerful launch vehicle ever developed.

When fully integrated, the launch system comprises a 232-foot Super Heavy rocket and the 171-foot upper-stage Starship itself, the spacecraft where crew and cargo would ride. That size makes Starship large enough to tower over SpaceX's famous 230-foot-tall Falcon 9 – one of the world's most active rockets.

Super Heavy alone is powered by 33 of SpaceX’s Raptor engines for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff. The upper-stage Starship section is powered by six Raptor engines that will ultimately travel in orbit.

Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected]