SpaceX launched Starship V3 three weeks before its IPO. The booster exploded.

SpaceX launched the 12th Starship test flight from Starbase, Texas, using the upgraded Version 3 vehicle. The 90-minute window opened at 6:30 p.m. ET after a prior scrub caused by a hydraulic pin that failed to retract. Starship V3 lifted off from a new launch pad with 33 Raptor engines producing 18 million pounds of thrust. The flight proceeded normally through ascent and stage separation, and the upper stage continued on a suborbital trajectory after losing one of its six engines. The upper stage deployed 20 mock Starlink satellites and two modified satellites for heat-shield scanning and data transmission. The Super Heavy booster was destroyed after separation when an engine relight sequence failed to maintain control, while the upper stage later splashed down vertically in the Indian Ocean and exploded on contact with water.

"SpaceX launched the 12th test flight of its Starship rocket on Friday evening from Starbase, Texas, marking the debut of the upgraded Version 3 vehicle. The flight successfully deployed 20 mock Starlink satellites and beamed live video from space, but the Super Heavy booster was destroyed after separation, failing to achieve a controlled descent. The test came three weeks before SpaceX is expected to raise approximately $75 billion in what would be the largest IPO in history."

"The 90-minute launch window opened at 6:30 p.m. ET after a scrub the previous day caused by a hydraulic pin on the launch tower that failed to retract. Starship V3 lifted off from a new launch pad at Starbase, powered by 33 Raptor engines generating 18 million pounds of thrust. The vehicle stands 408 feet tall when fully stacked and is the largest rocket ever built or flown."

"The flight proceeded nominally through ascent and stage separation, but anomalies emerged almost immediately after the Super Heavy booster detached. During an engine relight sequence intended to steer the booster toward a controlled landing, failures destroyed a significant portion of the booster's aft section, resulting in a loss of control. The booster was not attempting a landing at the launch tower on this flight but was targeting a controlled descent into the Gulf of Mexico."

"The upper stage, designated Ship 39, continued on a suborbital trajectory despite losing one of its six engines during powered flight. It deployed the 20 mock Starlink satellites one by one, plus two actual modified satellites equipped to scan the spacecraft's heat shield and transmit data back during descent. After reaching a speed of Mach 7, Starship lit two of its engines before splashing down vertically in the Indian Ocean, where it tipped over and exploded upon contact with the water, an expected outcome for t"

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