Super Heavy Block 3 (V3)

Block 3, also called V3, is the Super Heavy version that entered service in 2026 and covers the boosters from Booster 18 onwards. Its changes all point in the same direction: remove weight and remove parts. The vented interstage, a separately installed item on the earlier versions, is now integrated with the vehicle's forward dome; the grid fins drop from four to three; and the switch to the Raptor 3 engine allows most of the engine shielding that filled the aft compartment to be deleted. The feed system was also reworked: Block 3 features a substantially larger transfer tube connecting the engines to the methane tank.

The most visible change is aerodynamic. Where Block 1 and Block 2 carried four grid fins, Block 3 carries three, in a 90/90/180-degree arrangement. They are roughly one and a half times the size of the earlier fins and sit lower on the vehicle. According to SpaceX, that repositioning reduces the heat they experience during stage separation, the moment at which the booster is exposed to the plume of the ship that has just lit its engines.

Assembly of Booster 18 began on 19 May 2025 and the stacking of vehicle sections continued into November. On 20 November 2025 it rolled to the Massey's test site and the following day it suffered an anomaly during its initial testing there. It was scrapped days later, without ever receiving engines or reaching the pad. Its assigned mission, Flight 12, passed to the next vehicle.

Booster 19 began stacking on 27 November 2025 and was fully stacked on 24 December. It rolled to Massey's for cryogenic testing on 1 February 2026 and returned to the Mega Bay on 9 February for engine installation. On 8 March it rolled out to the launch site and on 10 March completed another cryogenic test which was also the first loading of propellant on Pad 2. A spin prime followed on 11 March, an igniter test on 15 March and, on 16 March, a ten-engine static fire cut short by an issue with the launch pad. The booster returned to the production site on 18 March to fit the remaining twenty-three engines and came back on 11 April with all thirty-three. After a cryogenic test or spin prime on 12 April and an igniter test on 13 April, it ran a thirty-three-engine static fire on 15 April. A third static fire came after the rollout of 6 May: SpaceX described it as a full duration, full thrust thirty-three-engine static fire and posted two videos of the fourteen-second test, carried out on 7 May 2026. It was the first successful full-up static fire by a Super Heavy V3, after the March and 15 April attempts had ended early.

Stacked with Ship 39, the vehicle aborted a wet dress rehearsal on 9 May and completed it on 11 May. Booster 19 lifted off on 22 May 2026, a day after an aborted attempt, with a mostly successful ascent burn. After stage separation, nearly all of the engines failed on the boostback burn, forcing an early abort; the landing burn achieved even fewer ignitions and the booster crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. It remains the only Block 3 flight to date.

Booster 20 rolled out to Massey's on 5 June 2026 and completed a cryogenic test on 6 June. On 10 July 2026, having rolled to the launch site the day before, it performed a thirty-three-engine static fire that lasted for the intended duration.