IFT-12 Launch Day — Starship V3 Set for 6:30 PM EDT Liftoff from Pad 2; Artemis II Crew Day 41 at JSC

SpaceX's Starship Integrated Flight Test 12 (IFT-12) reached launch day on May 21, 2026 with the vehicle — Booster 19 and Ship 39 — standing ready at Orbital Launch Pad 2 (OLP-2), Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas, ahead of the 6:30 PM EDT (22:30 UTC) launch window. This is the maiden flight of the Starship V3 (Block 3) clean-sheet architecture: Booster 19 carries 33 Raptor 3 engines, representing the most powerful rocket booster ever built, while Ship 39 is the first Starship to carry a pressurized docking port and orbital propellant-transfer interface hardware, both required by NASA as precursor technology for the Artemis III Human Landing System qualification campaign. The IFT-12 trajectory sends Booster 19 to a Gulf of Mexico water splashdown (no Mechazilla tower catch on this debut flight) and Ship 39 on a suborbital arc to Indian Ocean splashdown approximately 65 minutes after liftoff off western Australia — validating the new docking hardware in a flight environment for the first time. This is also the inaugural launch from OLP-2, the second orbital launch pad at Starbase, and the first Starship flight in approximately seven months. A live Space.com blog is tracking countdown operations in real time. The Artemis II crew — Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, Mission Specialist Christina Koch, and Canadian Mission Specialist Jeremy Hansen — are on Day 41 of post-mission activities at Johnson Space Center in Houston, continuing physiological reconditioning, mission debriefs, and preparation for upcoming public appearances. At Kennedy Space Center, Orion's Avcoat heat shield visual inspection continues at the Multi-Payload Processing Facility; formal Marshall Space Flight Center X-ray scans and sample extractions remain on track for summer 2026. Artemis III SLS core stage stacking advances in VAB High Bay 2.