IFT-12 Stack on OLP-2 — B19 + Ship 39 V3 Ready for May 12 First Flight; FAA License Pending; Dual-Launch Day Approaches

As of May 10, 2026, SpaceX's Starship Flight 12 (IFT-12) vehicle stack — comprising Super Heavy Booster 19 (33 Raptor 3 V3 engines) and Ship 39 (first V3 upper stage, 124.4 m combined height with booster) — stands fully integrated on Orbital Launch Pad 2 (OLP-2) at Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas, with a launch target of as early as 5:30 p.m. CDT on May 12, 2026. The FAA launch license for IFT-12 remains the primary gating item; SpaceX has submitted its license application and is awaiting FAA approval, which must be issued before propellant loading begins. The IFT-12 vehicle is the first to use SpaceX's Block 3 / V3 architecture, featuring: 33 Raptor 3 V3 engines on Super Heavy (each delivering ~250 tf thrust at sea level, 280+ tf in vacuum); an elongated Ship 39 upper stage with improved propellant mass fraction; Raptor 3 vacuum engines; and a design LEO payload target exceeding 100 metric tons (fully reusable). IFT-12 will fly a suborbital arc trajectory with both Booster 19 and Ship 39 targeting ocean splashdowns — no catch attempt is planned — to validate the Block 3 architecture before attempting the Mechazilla tower catch in future flights. Simultaneously, SpaceX's CRS-34 Cargo Dragon mission remains on track for a 7:16 p.m. EDT launch from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on May 12 — meaning SpaceX faces the extraordinary prospect of two simultaneous orbital-class missions from pads separated by 1,200 miles on the same calendar day. If both missions proceed on May 12, it would represent a historic milestone in commercial spaceflight: the first time any company has conducted an orbital resupply mission and a next-generation test vehicle launch on the same day from separate facilities.