Starship SN3

Block 1 Starship Prototype

Mission Profile

Starship SN3 (Serial Number 3) was an early full-scale SpaceX Starship prototype constructed at Boca Chica, Texas, representing the third stainless-steel Starship test article built for the Starship development program. First assembled in March 2020, SN3 was intended to conduct cryogenic pressure testing and potentially low-altitude hop tests, but the vehicle was accidentally crushed on 3 April 2020 during a pressurization test due to a valve configuration error. The rapid pace of prototype construction meant SpaceX simply moved on to SN4, which successfully conducted a static fire before also being destroyed in a propellant leak incident. SN3 is part of the extraordinarily fast iterative development process that characterized early Starship testing.