SpaceX flies from Starbase to Los Angeles the week Starship V3 is cleared for launch

SpaceX flew from Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport to Los Angeles International Airport on May 17, a 3-hour-14-minute hop that landed just after 6 p.m. Pacific. The Boeing 737-800, a high-capacity shuttle that moves staff between Starbase and headquarters, made the trip after a week of near-daily runs between the two sites.

The same week, SpaceX completed a launch rehearsal and static-fire campaign for Starship V3 — the tallest rocket ever built, at 408 feet — and announced a target launch date of May 19 from the new Pad 2 at Starbase, per Space.com and Spaceflight Now. The flight carries 22 dummy Starlink satellites, a redesigned propulsion system, and Raptor 3 engines. It is the first flight of the V3 variant and the first from the upgraded pad.

The shuttle schedule underscores the intensity of work at Starbase: N154TS flew Brownsville-to-LAX or reverse on six of the past seven days. With a public SpaceX IPO reportedly on the table this year and NASA's Artemis III lunar lander contract riding on Starship's performance, the weekly rhythm of engineers rotating between Hawthorne and South Texas shows no sign of slowing.