SpaceX moves next Starship spacecraft to launch pad for testing (photos)

a shiny silver spacecraft is held by the metallic arms of a launch tower at a seaside pad

SpaceX moves a Starship upper stage to the launch pad as part of preparations for the megarocket's upcoming 11th test flight. SpaceX posted this photo on X on Sept. 17, 2025. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX has moved its newest Starship spacecraft to the launch pad for testing ahead of the megarocket's upcoming 11th test flight.

The company documented the milestone today (Sept. 17) via X, in a post that shared three photos of the shiny silver Starship upper stage.

In one of those images, the 171-foot-tall (52-meter-tall) spacecraft — known as Starship, or just "Ship" — is rolling down a road at SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas at nighttime. In the other two, Ship is at the pad, nestled in the grasp of the launch tower's "chopstick" arms.

overhead photo of a large silver spacecraft rolling down a road at night — Ship on the move toward the pad at Starbase. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The likely next steps are pressurization and engine tests, which will ensure Ship is ready to fly. The same prep work will also be done with Super Heavy, the huge booster that makes up the bottom half of the fully reusable, stainless-steel Starship.

The upcoming test flight, whose target date has not yet been announced, will be the 11th for Starship.

Flight 10, which launched on Aug. 26, was a complete success, according to SpaceX; both Super Heavy and Ship hit their splashdown targets (Super Heavy in the Gulf of Mexico and Ship in the Indian Ocean), and the upper stage deployed eight dummy versions of SpaceX's Starlink satellites — a first for a Starship flight.

It was a welcome bounceback for SpaceX, which had lost Ship prematurely on the previous three test launches.

a shiny silver rocket sits at a seaside launch pad — Ship on the pad at Starbase, on South Texas' Gulf coast. (Image credit: SpaceX)

— What's next for SpaceX's Starship Mars rocket after Flight 10 success?

— Starship and Super Heavy explained

Flight 11 will be the final mission of Starship Version 2, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk has said. The company will then shift to testing Version 3 of the vehicle, which will stand about 408 feet (124.4 meters) tall — roughly 10 feet (3 m) taller than Version 2.

If Version 3 testing and development go well, a small, uncrewed fleet of these vehicles could launch toward Mars as early as next year, according to Musk. That would be a big step toward achieving his, and SpaceX's, chief long-term goal — helping humanity settle the Red Planet.

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Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

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