SpaceX shuttles employees from Starbase to LAX as Starship V3 debut nears

SpaceX flew from Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport to Los Angeles International on May 13, a routine return leg for the company's employee shuttle. The 737-800, N154TS, departed KBRO at 18:55 UTC and touched down at KLAX three hours later.

The flight comes the same week SpaceX announced the debut launch of its Starship V3 megarocket, now set for May 19 per a Space.com report. Over the weekend, the company completed a full launch rehearsal and static fire tests at Starbase, fueling the 408-foot vehicle with over 5,000 metric tons of propellant for the first time. The return trip likely ferried engineers and technicians back to Hawthorne after supporting those milestones.

N154TS is a near-daily workhorse for SpaceX, flying between LAX and Brownsville multiple times weekly. The pattern reflects the intense operational tempo at Starbase as Flight 12 approaches — the first flight of V3 and the inaugural launch from Pad 2, both critical for NASA's Artemis program and SpaceX's IPO ambitions.