SpaceX launches Starship v3 rocket

SpaceX 发射星舰（Starship）v3 火箭

The most powerful rocket in history just roared off its launch pad in a spectacular show of power and technology. SpaceX launched the newest version of its giant Starship rocket Friday (May 22), from a recently completed second pad at its Starbase manufacturing and test facility in South Texas. Liftoff occurred at 6:30 p.m. EDT (2230 GMT), sending the massive 408-foot-tall (124-meter) vehicle skyward on its 12th suborbital test flight.

史上最强大的火箭刚刚从发射台上轰鸣升空，展现了令人震撼的力量与科技。SpaceX 于周五（5 月 22 日）从其位于德克萨斯州南部星际基地（Starbase）制造与测试设施中新建成的二号发射台，发射了最新版本的巨型星舰火箭。发射时间为美国东部时间下午 6:30（格林威治标准时间 22:30），这枚高达 408 英尺（124 米）的庞然大物开启了其第 12 次亚轨道试飞。

It was the first Starship mission since October 2025, and the first-ever flight of Starship Version 3 (V3), a next-generation build of the rocket that features a complete design overhaul meant to evolve the vehicle toward operational missions. And today’s suborbital Flight 12 was a significant step toward that ambitious goal, even if it was a day later than planned after a glitched thwarted a first launch try on Thursday.

这是自 2025 年 10 月以来的首次星舰任务，也是星舰 V3 版本的首次飞行。作为该火箭的下一代版本，V3 进行了全面的设计革新，旨在推动该载具向执行实际任务迈进。尽管周四的一次故障推迟了原定计划，使得今天的第 12 次亚轨道飞行比预期晚了一天，但这次发射仍是实现这一宏伟目标的重要一步。

“Congratulations SpaceX team on an epic first Starship V3 launch & landing!,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X after the launch. “You scored a goal for humanity.”

“祝贺 SpaceX 团队完成了史诗般的星舰 V3 首飞与着陆！”SpaceX 首席执行官埃隆·马斯克在发射后于 X 平台上写道，“你们为人类进了一球。”

There were some hiccups. During liftoff, one of the 33 first-stage Raptor engines on Super Heavy shut down, and the booster missed a critical “boost back” maneuver to control its return to Earth. Starship’s Ship 39 upper stage also lost one of its six main engines during ascent, but managed to reach space on the remaining five.

过程中也出现了一些小插曲。在升空过程中，超重型助推器（Super Heavy）上的 33 台猛禽发动机中有一台关闭，且助推器错过了控制其返回地球的关键“助推返回”（boost back）机动。星舰的 Ship 39 上级在上升过程中也损失了六台主发动机中的一台，但最终依靠剩余的五台发动机成功抵达太空。

“I wouldn’t call it nominal orbital insertion, but we’re in on a trajectory that we had analyzed, and it’s within bounds,” SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said in live commentary. “So, teams continuing to work through it with that engine out there, working some through some steps on the engines.”

“我不会称其为标准的轨道注入，但我们处于预先分析过的轨道轨迹内，且在可控范围内，”SpaceX 发言人丹·胡特（Dan Huot）在直播评论中表示，“因此，团队正在针对那台熄火的发动机进行后续处理，并执行一些相关的发动机操作步骤。”

Starship consists of a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and an upper stage known as Starship, or simply Ship. The first notable event after the rocket cleared the tower this evening occurred about 2 minutes and 20 seconds into flight, when Super Heavy initiated “hot staging” and separation from Ship. (It’s known as hot staging because Ship begins firing its engines before separating from Super Heavy.)

星舰由一级助推器“超重型”（Super Heavy）和上级“星舰”（Starship，简称 Ship）组成。今晚火箭离开发射塔后的第一个重要节点发生在飞行约 2 分 20 秒时，当时超重型助推器启动了“热分离”（hot staging）并与 Ship 分离。（之所以称为热分离，是因为 Ship 在与超重型助推器分离前就已经点燃了发动机。）

Unlike its V2 predecessor, which featured an interstage ring that fell away at separation, Starship V3 is built with similar hardware secured to the top of the booster, like a fence around the fuel tank’s dome to give some breathing room to the upper stage engines’ ignition and initial thrust away from the booster.

与前代 V2 不同（V2 在分离时会掉落一个级间环），星舰 V3 的设计是在助推器顶部固定了类似的硬件，就像在燃料箱顶部周围围了一圈栅栏，为上级发动机的点火和脱离助推器的初始推力留出了一定的空间。

After stage separation, Super Heavy reoriented and attempted to perform a one-minute boostback burn toward Starbase. However, something went wrong and the burn didn’t go as planned, Huot said.

级间分离后，超重型助推器调整了姿态，并尝试进行了一分钟的助推返回点火，目标指向星际基地。然而，胡特表示，过程中出现了问题，点火并未按计划进行。

SpaceX has performed booster recoveries at Starbase on previous Starship missions, catching the rocket’s first stage using mechanical “chopstick” arms attached to the launch towers. On Flight 12, however, the company planned to return Super Heavy to a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico rather than risk a recovery mishap that could damage the pad on the first flight of brand-new hardware.

在之前的星舰任务中，SpaceX 曾在星际基地进行过助推器回收，利用发射塔上的机械“筷子”手臂捕捉火箭的第一级。然而，在第 12 次飞行中，公司计划让超重型助推器在墨西哥湾进行软着陆，而不是冒着回收失败的风险，以免在全新硬件的首飞中损坏发射台。

Instead, the massive Super Heavy booster plummeted back to Earth and crashed into the Gulf, beaming live views of its fall from space until the screen went black. “The booster didn’t complete its full boost back,” Huot said just after liftoff. “Its mission ended a little bit early, but landed in the clear area that we had set in advance.”

最终，巨大的超重型助推器坠回地球并撞入墨西哥湾，直播画面一直传回其从太空坠落的景象，直到屏幕变黑。“助推器没有完成完整的助推返回，”胡特在发射后不久说道，“它的任务提前结束了，但落在了我们预先设定的安全区域内。”

SpaceX included 22 payloads for Ship to deploy during its suborbital jaunt today — 20 dummy versions of the company’s Starlink broadband satellites and two actual Starlink spacecraft equipped with imaging sensors.

SpaceX 在今天的亚轨道飞行中为 Ship 搭载了 22 个载荷——包括 20 个星链（Starlink）宽带卫星的模拟模型，以及两颗配备了成像传感器的真实星链卫星。

The payloads were deployed as planned over a 10-minute span, beginning roughly 17 minutes after launch, via Ship’s “PEZ dispenser”-like door. The two modified Starlink satellites were tasked with scanning Starship’s heat shield tiles, in a test meant to assess the ability to inspect them for possible damage prior to reentry.

这些载荷在发射约 17 分钟后，通过 Ship 类似“PEZ 糖果机”的舱门，在 10 分钟内按计划部署完毕。这两颗改装后的星链卫星的任务是扫描星舰的隔热瓦，旨在评估在再入大气层前检查隔热瓦潜在损伤的能力。

Shortly after the final two Starlink simulators deployed (the ones with cameras that SpaceX nicknamed “Dodger Dogs” after the famed hotdogs at Dodger Stadium), SpaceX broadcast the spectacular video they captured as they flew away from Starship. “That is a Starship in space,” Huot said.

在最后两颗星链模拟器（SpaceX 以道奇体育场著名的热狗将其戏称为“道奇热狗”）部署后不久，SpaceX 播放了它们在飞离星舰时拍摄的壮观视频。“那就是太空中的星舰，”胡特说道。

SpaceX initially planned for the Ship 39 upper stage to perform an in-space relight of one of its six Raptor engines in orbit— an important demonstration to prove the spacecraft can reliably execute maneuvers, as mixing and managing cryogenic fuels and reigniting an engine in zero-g is necessary to alter Ship’s orbit, send it on to the moon or Mars, and bring it back to Earth for recovery and reuse. But because of the lost Raptor engine during launch, flight controllers skipped that test for Flight 12.

SpaceX 最初计划让 Ship 39 上级在轨道上对其六台猛禽发动机中的一台进行太空重新点火——这是一项重要的演示，旨在证明航天器能够可靠地执行机动。因为在零重力环境下混合和管理低温燃料并重新点火，对于改变星舰轨道、将其送往月球或火星，以及带回地球进行回收和再利用至关重要。但由于发射过程中损失了一台猛禽发动机，飞行控制人员取消了第 12 次飞行的这项测试。

And so, the first Starship V3 spacecraft began its descent to Earth.

就这样，第一艘星舰 V3 航天器开始了其返回地球的下降过程。