SpaceX lands in Los Angeles the eve of Starship V3's debut test flight

SpaceX flew from Brownsville, Texas, to Los Angeles on May 20, 2026, landing a 737-800 employee shuttle at LAX at 3:10 p.m. local time. The flight, a routine leg of the company's near-daily Hawthorne–Starbase run, arrived just one day before the debut launch of the upgraded Starship V3—a vehicle that will attempt the 12th uncrewed test flight of the world's largest rocket, per a Reuters report.

The timing is no coincidence. On May 21, SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Starship V3 from its Starbase site in South Texas, a critical milestone ahead of an expected initial public offering next month. The rocket's upgraded engines and heat-shield scanners are central to SpaceX's lunar ambitions under NASA's Artemis program, as covered by Space.com. This flight may have ferried employees back to the company's original headquarters after final pre-launch work on the pad.

N154TS, a 2002 Boeing 737-800 acquired in 2023, typically shuttles staff between Los Angeles and Brownsville three times a week, logging 116 flights in 2024. Its grey livery and rooftop antennas are a fixture at both airports, now marking the rhythm of a company racing to prove its mega-rocket is commercially viable.