Starship Flight 13 set for Thursday after engine abort

SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 is preparing to launch as early as Thursday, July 23, after a last-second abort on July 16 when some Super Heavy engines failed to ignite at Starbase, Texas. The 90-minute window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT for a suborbital test meant to deploy the first Starlink V3 satellites.

Key Takeaways

• Flight 13 aborted automatically on July 16 after Super Heavy engines failed to start at ignition.
• SpaceX is now targeting as early as Thursday, July 23, with a 90-minute window from 5:45 p.m. CT.
• The flight plans to deploy 20 production Starlink V3 satellites on a suborbital trajectory.
• Booster 20 and Ship 40 will fly for the first time, with no recovery attempt planned.
• Objectives include a Gulf landing burn demo and an in-space Raptor engine relight.

What happened on the July 16 Starship attempt?

SpaceX reached Super Heavy ignition at Pad 2 at Starbase in southern Texas at 5:45 p.m. CDT on July 16, then scrubbed. On-screen telemetry indicated four engines did not ignite as planned, Spaceflight Now reported.

“Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk wrote on X about 10 minutes later. He said the next attempt would hopefully come in a few days.

Flight 13 is the second launch of SpaceX’s third-generation Starship-Super Heavy stack and the program’s second mission this year. Follow related buzz coverage in celebrity breaking news.

When is the next Starship Flight 13 launch window?

According to SpaceX, the thirteenth flight test is preparing to launch as early as Thursday, July 23. The 90-minute window opens at 5:45 p.m. CT. Reuters later reported that SpaceX moved the launch attempt to Thursday.

A live webcast is set to begin about 30 minutes before liftoff on SpaceX’s site and on X @SpaceX. The company notes developmental schedules can change, so the timing remains dynamic.

What will Starship try to prove on Flight 13?

When it flies, SpaceX plans to use Booster 20 and Ship 40. Both stages are flying for the first time, and SpaceX will not attempt to recover either for reuse.

For the first time, Starship is planned to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites. The craft will extend solar arrays and antennas and attempt to connect with the broader Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. They stay on the same suborbital path as Starship and are expected to demise on reentry about 20 minutes after deployment.

The booster’s primary goals include a successful ascent, hot-staging, boostback, and a landing burn at an offshore point in the Gulf. SpaceX says hardware and software changes target issues from Flight 12, including a roughly 90-degree flip error after stage separation and five of 33 engines that had re-light problems during boostback.

Ship objectives include the satellite deploy demo, a single Raptor in-space relight, and a controlled entry and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX also plans heat-shield experiments, including load-sensing tiles and attachment tests, as it pushes toward rapid reuse.

SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell told CNBC in June the company may attempt an orbital launch as soon as Flight 14, depending on how this mission goes, with a monthly cadence as the target. NASA is watching closely as a modified Starship Version 3 is tied to Artemis 3 testing next year.