@judgedread @judgedread The first flight tests of V1 Starship ended up in upper stage explosions, then the later flights had successful landings. Same pattern for V2 Starship. V1 Ships had a single downcomer, while V2s had separate downcomers for Vacuum Raptors. Those major changes needed the bugs to be weeded out again in V2.
I expect a similar pattern for V3, depending on how much the design changed. The most visible change is the refueling docking ports.
As for potential pajeet :H1B_pajeet: infiltration, SpaceX is barred by ITAR from hiring foreigners. And Elon Musk has a termination policy where, if a bad employee is terminated, the people who hired him and recommended him, also get fired too. Elon Musk is ruthless when it comes to firings, and SpaceX is his most important company.