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Posted on 07/19/2026 6:13:56 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The thirteenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as early as Monday, July 20. The 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. CT.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to check in here and stay tuned to our X account for updates.
The upcoming flight will aim to complete similar objectives targeted on the previous flight test, which debuted the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, while also carrying next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time.
Watch "Critical Path", the latest episode in the ongoing Starship series that followed SpaceX engineers and technicians through the final days before launch of the first Starship V3.
The booster's primary test objective will be executing a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and landing burn at an offshore landing point in the Gulf of America. There have been several modifications to hardware and software to address issues seen on the previous flight.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacex.com ...
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[cont'd] At stage separation on Flight 12, slight differences in engine startup on the ship caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees. The startup sequence has been modified to be more robust to timing variability and more reliably flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance. After stage separation and the flip, the Super Heavy booster attempted its boostback burn. Five of its 33 engines experienced issues when attempting to re-light causing the boostback burn to end early. The Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment.
The Starship upper stage's primary objectives include the deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites, a relight of a single Raptor engine while in space, and another controlled entry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. There have also been several modifications to Starship's propulsion system to address the engine out issue experienced on the previous flight.
Approximately 40 seconds after stage separation, Starship lost one of its three Raptor vacuum optimized engines. The vehicle was able to demonstrate its engine out capability and reach its planned suborbital trajectory. Several hardware and operational modifications have been made to address the interconnected causes with additional reliability improvements planned in upcoming versions of the Raptor engine.
For the first time, Starship will carry V3 Starlink satellites to space, which aim to greatly expand the network's capacity and user speeds. As part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment.
Six of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship's heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship's heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.
Several upgrades and experiments related to Starship's heatshield will also be tested to continue iteration towards a fully and rapidly reusable design. Multiple tiles will be attached to the metallic side of Starship's aft flaps along with modified tiles and attachment mechanisms in the heatshield covering the aft skirt to gather flight data on different attachment options. Finally, Starship's heatshield will have load sensing tiles to take measurements as the vehicle experiences higher dynamic pressure on ascent than previous flights, putting added stress on the tile attachments in exchange for increased payload to orbit capability.
Welcome to LabPadre, an intelligent chat community! We have many 24/7 PTZ cameras watching SpaceX at Port Canaveral, Florida and Starbase, Texas. Watch SpaceX launch and build the Starship and SuperHeavy booster prototypes, that will eventually take people to Mars, from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas.Starbase Live Nerdle Cam - SpaceX Starship Launch Facility
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Swap out a couple of engines and away they go
Elon Musk is the only person that could do this. The USA is the only country where it could be done. SpaceX would be impossible with the taxes and mandates championed by the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Looks like SPCX may be a decent buy in the premarket.
With 33 Raptor engines, doesn’t the mission profile factor in losing an engine or two and still accomplish the goals? I mean failing *after* liftoff, not as in the Thursday attempt, when abort was still possible. Clearly, they want good reads on all engines at start up. The 33 configuration allows for an acceptable margin of error than, say, losing 1 of 9.
Losing an engine or two in a test flight is not so bad, but in order to prove itself reliable in real missions, all engines must function perfectly. This has to be demonstrated repeatably in test flights before it will be considered operational.
They’d shut things down just like in the Apollo era.
But take note, the level of technical advancement is orders of magnitude higher today than 50 years ago. That no Moon astronauts were lost during a mission back then is still something of a marvel. It’s easier to get *to* the Moon today; Musk aims to do it ferrying 200 tons of payload.
The Apollo 13 guys can thank continuing mass inertia, on a correctable course, for allowing them to coast around he Moon and get headed back toward earth.
High reliability (near 100%) is more important than whether it can make it or not. If there’s a pattern of failure, there will be delays on future launch approvals and such.
Yup. SpaceX is manufacturing v3 Raptors right long, so the overall design must be satisfactory. I’d expect more iterative improvements, but there’s supposedly a big leap coming by the end of next year (IMHO, 2028 seems more like it).
Four engines failed to ignite, but only two were swapped out, so, must be a reason for that (iow, why not swap all four?). Wild guess is, the two getting swapped failed to ignite and the fuel mixture feed got shut off to all four, which then triggered full shutdown. So, two of the engines had problems, the other 29 were fine.
/bingo
I mentioned how the HLS goal is to land ~200 tons of payload on the Moon. For comparison:
The Apollo Lunar Module (LM), the fueled spacecraft used for crewed Moon landings had a standard launch mass of about 33,500 pounds (15,200 kg), and the extended configuration could reach 36,200 pounds (16,400 kg) [about 18 tons]
The Apollo lander allowed for very little in the way of payload delivery to the Moon, as the lander itself was the payload.
I rode the Tesla fluctuations back when, and dubbed that stock the Maalox Rollercoaster. I suspect SpaceX will have similar volatility, a 2 steps forward 1 step back kind of pattern. I think Maalox was discontinued, which is really too bad.
“SpaceX would be impossible with the taxes and mandates championed by the likes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren”
Not only that, those commies would confiscate all of Musk’s wealth and the wealth of the thousands of millionaires created by his companies. We would all be equally poor.
I’m not a big market player but in this post-Gold Standard program trading era, most high-flying stocks have large swings - especially the tech related stocks.
I would be wary of investing in SPCX stock right now, unless you are in for the long term. Lots of wild swings ahead for the next year. As owner shares unlock, there will be some dumping of shares on the market. Not to mention that in rocket setbacks, Wall Street panics and drives the stock down. Only invest what you can afford to lose in the short term.
Having said that, I bought in at $135 and see these dips as a buying opportunity, and will hold to see if the gamble pays off some five years down the road. Hopefully we won't get a Bernie Sanders or AOC in the White House to ruin wealth opportunities.
Bookmarked for tomorrow.
(Good summary of the planned flight.)
That’s not the design philosophy that made the Falcon 9.
Fail Fast, Fix, and Fly again.
That’s best for development. Human flight comes later, after demonstrating 100+ perfect launch/recoveries. That’s how Falcon 9 did it.
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