SpaceX lit all 33 Raptor engines on its Super Heavy V3 booster on Thursday, May 7, in a static-fire test at the company’s Starbase site in Texas, keeping the vehicle firmly clamped to the pad. In a post on X that included two videos of the run, SpaceX described the event as a “Full duration and full thrust 33-engine static fire with Super Heavy V3,” and indicated the burn lasted 14 seconds. The company reported that “everything apparently went well,” marking a clean, full-up firing of the new booster configuration.
The May 7 test is the first successful full-duration, full-thrust static fire of a V3 Super Heavy and represents a significant step toward the next integrated Starship launch. Earlier attempts with this same booster had not reached that benchmark. In March, SpaceX conducted a 10-engine static-fire trial, and on April 15 it attempted a 33-engine static fire. According to SpaceX and contemporaneous reporting, both of those earlier tests ended early due to issues with ground equipment rather than the booster itself, leaving the full 33-engine profile unproven until this week’s run.
The upper stage assigned to the upcoming mission has already completed its own engine qualification on the pad. On April 14, the Starship “Ship” for Flight 12 ignited all six of its Raptor engines in a static-fire test, which SpaceX and independent coverage characterized as successful. With the Ship’s six-engine firing on April 14 and the Super Heavy’s 33-engine full-duration burn on May 7, both stages of the next Starship stack have now demonstrated multi-engine operation at Starbase ahead of flight.
With these pad tests in hand, SpaceX’s Starship megarocket may get off the ground next week relative to the article’s publication context. The company is apparently targeting May 15 for the next Starship test flight, according to a listing on NextSpaceflight cited in the primary report. That mission would be the 12th Starship flight overall and the first to fly the more powerful “Version 3” configuration of the vehicle, pairing the V3 Super Heavy booster with the already-tested upper stage for Flight 12.
The static-fire campaign leading up to this point has followed a clear progression in engine count and duration, constrained primarily by ground-system reliability. March’s 10-engine trial and the April 15 33-engine attempt both terminated early due to ground equipment issues, underscoring that pad infrastructure remains a critical element in bringing the full V3 stack to flight readiness. The successful 14-second, full-thrust firing on May 7 indicates that, at least for this test, those ground-side constraints were resolved sufficiently to support a complete 33-engine run, aligning with SpaceX’s stated “test like you fly” approach ahead of the targeted May 15 launch.
Original source: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/spacex-just-fired-up-its-33-engine-starship-v3-super-heavy-rocket-booster-when-could-it-fly