That USA chant!!!

AtlAg05 said:

---

NSF just mentioned the "Gateway to Mars" sign took some damage.

I think they said it only says "Gate to Mars"

---

Correction, only says "Gat way "

ErnestEndeavor said:

---

That was a cool view of the underneath side before it exploded.

---

Those tiles looked pretty good

Either by design changes or because they finally didn't intentionally create failed points, the fins didn't have any burn through issues.

On target with an engine out during ascent

That lady that walked into the stream in the red top and white capris had her own mission!

Awesome landing.

Just the idea of being in the Indian Ocean an hour after leaving South Padre is wild.

That was fun. Curious on the booster failure, though. I thought they had that mostly set at this point. No?

Marvin said:

---

That was fun. Curious on the booster failure, though. I thought they had that mostly set at this point. No?

---

All new Raptor 3 engines, completely new fuel management plumbing inside.

This rocket system "looks" mostly the same, but everyone has said it's a complete clean sheet redesign of Version 2.

Starship = Kardashev Type II civilization pic.twitter.com/qsJtCvmzlO

— Tesla Owners Silicon Valley (@teslaownersSV) May 20, 2026

Not a bad way to spend day two on the job.

Thanks for the flight, @NASAAdmin, and best of luck to @SpaceX on Starship Flight 12! pic.twitter.com/sBENxtaHHt

— Deputy Administrator Matt Anderson (@NASADepAdmin) May 22, 2026

WOW! This is the first time we've ever been able to see Starship in space from another object. This view comes from modified Starlink satellite they just deployed that has a camera and a light on it.

Super cool! pic.twitter.com/10cJtWvYXg

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 22, 2026

pic.twitter.com/81NZZRq5PR

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 22, 2026

SpaceX's Starship rocket just successfully performed a flip maneuver and precisely splashed down on target in the Indian Ocean next to a buoy with @Starlink on it.

The SpaceX team ends the stream with a "USA! USA! USA!" chant 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/rKwFHda4Jc

— Sawyer Merritt (@SawyerMerritt) May 22, 2026

Timelapse of the ship's Return To Launch Site banking maneuver. pic.twitter.com/ixWFtv2bJ7

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) May 22, 2026

This is why it flew today

WHAT AN UPGRADE COMPARED TO YESTERDAY pic.twitter.com/3L6c4FjHTI

— Maxarick (@Maxarick) May 22, 2026

V3 has some nice TWR

Flight 11 and 12 synced at ignition by @DeffGeff pic.twitter.com/uqxwrQe0qx

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) May 23, 2026

Boost back burn in slow motion.

It looks like an explosion in a central raptor, which disabled the next ones. pic.twitter.com/UZgj42ndYd

— 𝙎𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙍𝙊𝙋𝙄𝘼 🗽🪐 (@sintropia_acc) May 22, 2026

TexAgs91 said:

---

V3 has some nice TWR

Flight 11 and 12 synced at ignition by @DeffGeff pic.twitter.com/uqxwrQe0qx

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) May 23, 2026

---

Big difference in power it seems.
1001 km/h vs 817 km/h
5.1km alt vs 4.3 km alt

will25u said:

---

TexAgs91 said:

---

V3 has some nice TWR

Flight 11 and 12 synced at ignition by @DeffGeff pic.twitter.com/uqxwrQe0qx

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) May 23, 2026

---

Big difference in power it seems.

---

Time to velocity would suggest ~20% increase in TWR

I wonder if that flip didn't result in fuel flow disruption. The down comer for the methane fuel is the diameter of a Falcon 9 fuselage!

Was that flip and specifically the exact execution, fully by design or did the thrust reaction from ship push booster off nominal?

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

Marvin said:

---

That was fun. Curious on the booster failure, though. I thought they had that mostly set at this point. No?

---

All new Raptor 3 engines, completely new fuel management plumbing inside.

This rocket system "looks" mostly the same, but everyone has said it's a complete clean sheet redesign of Version 2.

---

So basically the same?

Haha, thanks for the response.

Sooooo when is lucky flight 13?

The interstage achieved qualification load (approximately 125% of flight load) but ultimately tested to failure. Not part of the plan, but not entirely unexpected either as we validate design margins. This result gives us added conviction to the overall design and hardware for…

— Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) May 23, 2026

The sweet, sweet mushroom cloud of success!

I honestly didn't expect that they'd hit the drone bouy target with the early loss of the R Vac. That was a very impressive, unintentional, demonstration of their engine out capability.

Elon's next girlfriend?

pic.twitter.com/KotP1BmroT

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2026

txags92 said:

---

will25u said:

---

TexAgs91 said:

---

V3 has some nice TWR

Flight 11 and 12 synced at ignition by @DeffGeff pic.twitter.com/uqxwrQe0qx

— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) May 23, 2026

---

Big difference in power it seems.

---

Time to velocity would suggest ~20% increase in TWR

---

Yes, but it's more complicated than that.
1. The Raptor 3s shed a lot of weight off the booster.
2. They add ~10% more thrust, currently.
3. SpaceX used the weight savings and the integrated hot stage ring to move the common dome up and move the top of the LCH4 tank up into the hot stage ring. They added 400 tons of fuel doing this.
4. They had significantly more payload mass in this stack than in any previous.
5. The real big difference in jump off the pad is largely this.... The flame trench and new deluge system allowed for a redesign of the hold down clamps as an active system. They're now holding the full stack to the pad until all 33 Raptors are at full thrust, then they loose it. Before, they had to let it go because the hold downs had to release before ignition and the pad couldn't take the beating of waiting for the Raptors to throttle up to full thrust.

Starship Heat Shield Comparison Between Flights 10, 11, and 12 pic.twitter.com/znsXdJH5lt

— Nic Cruz Patane (@niccruzpatane) May 23, 2026

That looks like progress.

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

That USA chant!!!

---

I have to assume the majority of those young engineers based out of California are pretty far left. Its good to see them chanting USA.

I really want to get down there to see one of these launches. We are in CS, guess I need to plan a week vacation around the next one. Do we have any idea when they will be?

Not many are worried. I dont think we should be frightened by that.

TxAg82 said:

---

Kenneth_2003 said:

---

That USA chant!!!

---

I have to assume the majority of those young engineers based out of California are pretty far left. Its good to see them chanting USA.

---

Don't believe the algorithm, Americans are way more similar than we are different.