diff --git a/showtime/__init__.py b/showtime/__init__.py
index 1747151..12b555a 100644
--- a/showtime/__init__.py
+++ b/showtime/__init__.py
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
 Circus tent emoji state tracking for Apache Superset ephemeral environments.
 """
 
-__version__ = "0.6.11"
+__version__ = "0.6.12"
 __author__ = "Maxime Beauchemin"
 __email__ = "maximebeauchemin@gmail.com"
 
diff --git a/showtime/core/aws.py b/showtime/core/aws.py
index f12b2d7..24e1177 100644
--- a/showtime/core/aws.py
+++ b/showtime/core/aws.py
@@ -176,8 +176,9 @@ def create_environment(
                 return EnvironmentResult(success=False, error="Service failed to become stable")
 
             # Step 7: Health check the new service (longer timeout for Superset + examples)
+            # Note: Superset example loading takes more tha 10 mins in some cases
             print(f"🏥 Health checking service {service_name}...")
-            if not self._health_check_service(service_name, max_attempts=20):  # 10 minutes total
+            if not self._health_check_service(service_name, max_attempts=30):  # 15 minutes total
                 return EnvironmentResult(success=False, error="Service failed health checks")
 
             # Step 8: Get IP after health checks pass
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_aws_health_check.py b/tests/unit/test_aws_health_check.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c719678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/test_aws_health_check.py
@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+"""
+Tests for health check retry behavior.
+"""
+
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch
+
+import httpx
+import pytest
+
+from showtime.core.aws import AWSInterface
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def aws() -> AWSInterface:
+    """AWSInterface with mocked clients"""
+    return AWSInterface(
+        ecs_client=MagicMock(),
+        ecr_client=MagicMock(),
+        ec2_client=MagicMock(),
+    )
+
+
+class TestHealthCheckRetries:
+    """Core retry behavior tests"""
+
+    def test_succeeds_on_healthy_response(self, aws: AWSInterface) -> None:
+        """Returns True when health endpoint responds 200"""
+        with patch.object(aws, "get_environment_ip", return_value="1.2.3.4"):
+            with patch("httpx.Client") as mock_client:
+                mock_response = MagicMock(status_code=200)
+                mock_client.return_value.__enter__.return_value.get.return_value = mock_response
+
+                assert aws._health_check_service("test-service", max_attempts=3) is True
+
+    def test_retries_and_succeeds(self, aws: AWSInterface) -> None:
+        """Retries on failure and succeeds when health check eventually passes"""
+        with patch.object(aws, "get_environment_ip", return_value="1.2.3.4"):
+            with patch("httpx.Client") as mock_client:
+                mock_instance = mock_client.return_value.__enter__.return_value
+                # Fail twice (health + fallback each), then succeed
+                mock_instance.get.side_effect = [
+                    httpx.RequestError("refused"), MagicMock(status_code=503),  # attempt 1
+                    httpx.RequestError("refused"), MagicMock(status_code=503),  # attempt 2
+                    MagicMock(status_code=200),  # attempt 3 succeeds
+                ]
+
+                with patch("time.sleep"):
+                    assert aws._health_check_service("test-service", max_attempts=5) is True
+
+    def test_fails_after_max_attempts_exhausted(self, aws: AWSInterface) -> None:
+        """Returns False after all attempts fail"""
+        with patch.object(aws, "get_environment_ip", return_value="1.2.3.4"):
+            with patch("httpx.Client") as mock_client:
+                mock_client.return_value.__enter__.return_value.get.side_effect = (
+                    httpx.RequestError("refused")
+                )
+
+                with patch("time.sleep"):
+                    assert aws._health_check_service("test-service", max_attempts=3) is False