SpaceX is conducting a critical test flight of its Starship spacecraft, the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built, which NASA hopes will take astronauts to the lunar surface during the Artemis program as early as 2028.

SpaceX has rescheduled the maiden flight of its Starship Version 3 rocket to Thursday, May 22, 2026, after a contractor died at the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas. The delay puts one of the most significant rocket launches in recent memory on hold while a workplace fatality investigation plays out at the same site