Should got a fresh supply of these...
Posted on 07/16/2026 7:44:08 PM PDT by citizen
WASHINGTON — SpaceX aborted the launch of its latest Starship test flight July 16 when some of the vehicle’s engines failed to ignite.
Starship was scheduled to lift off on the Flight 13 mission from the company’s Starbase, Texas, test site at 6:45 p.m. Eastern. However, the launch was aborted just as Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster ignited. SpaceX said moments later that it was calling off the launch attempt for the day.
“Some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,” SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk posted on social media about 10 minutes after the abort. “Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days.”
“To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week,” he posted later.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacenews.com ...
Flight 13 will fly a similar suborbital profile as Flight 12, incorporating changes in response to issues seen on Flight 12. That included the failure of the Super Heavy booster to perform a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and the loss of one of six engines in the Starship upper stage during its ascent.
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A setback but nothing major, looks like. Maybe a 4 or 5 days delay.
One notable change for Flight 13 is Starship’s payload. While some previous flights carried mass simulators of next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, this mission is carrying 20 functioning Starlink V3 satellites that will be deployed once Starship is in space.
>> A setback but nothing major, looks like. Maybe a 4 or 5 days delay.
Meanwhile, “Raptor” is still a cool name for the engines!
Posted elsewhere was that 4 interior Raptor engines didn’t start; other engines did but fortunately were immediately shut down in the launch abort.
So, it looks like a ship roll-back, a full inspection check and some engine will be replaced.
Thus far, I have seen no mention of another static fire test before the next flight attempt. I suppose this would depend on their confidence of the cause and correction for today’s abort.
Glad the abort was successful after some initial ignitions and the ship can be rolled back to prepare for another shot. Great test of that system.
I feel really bad about this. Happens every time I try to watch the launch live. I’ll skip then next attempt, but if successful I think Space X should pay me to not watch.
The indication is 4 Raptors in the second ring did not fire.
Right, the shut down system was very necessary today! The last thing they needed was a New Glenn type of blow up.
Raptor is a very cool name.
These V3 engines are still pretty new. I hope they hold up well, as the fine-tuning on the design and the stresses they endure are amazing.
>> I hope they hold up well, as the fine-tuning on the design and the stresses they endure are amazing.
I wouldn’t bet against Mr. Musk solving it, that’s for sure. He has a helluva track record of persistence.
He is also adept at assembling top-notch teams of dedicated people like himself. Maybe because he leads from the front...?
This is what SpaceNews had to say about the Flight 13 abort.
Their stock is down to $125 after hours. It had a high of $228 in mid June...
We must be polar opposites. Every one I watch launches. Every one I miss (last night included) fails to launch. They need to pay me to watch, lol.
Should got a fresh supply of these...
Velociraptor is even cooler. Hope he give that moniker to the next gen 'gins.
IIRC they made both hardware and software changes in response to flight 12's engine troubles (some didn't light, and scrubbed re-light test).
They just did a successful static engine test.
Murphy rules!
Yup. “..this mission is carrying 20 functioning Starlink V3 satellites that will be deployed once Starship is in space... will be put through about 20 minutes of tests before reentry. That includes deployment of solar arrays and antennas and communications tests with both ground stations and other Starlink satellites... V3 satellites are larger and more powerful... 1 terabit per second of downlink capacity, 10 times better than existing Starlink satellites, and 160 gigabits per second of uplink capacity, 22 times better.”
The weight reduction and structural simplification would be amazing in and of itself, but look at these comparative statistics: 
That's crazy. Structurally simplified the engines and made them more reliable, nearly halved the mass of the engine and doubled the Thurst/Weight ration between the first and current Raptor engines, and almost tripled the expendable payload to space!
I think investors who are "concerned" should have their heads examined! These people are for real. They are absolutely eventually going to accomplish what they say they want to do, shooting a dozen of these into space every day.
Their trajectory is only upwards, IMO.
Yup. In that tour with Everyday Astronaut a couple years ago, version 2 already looked cleaner design wise than version 1, and the chamber pressure had already leaped to 300 bar, and that was the world record by a bunch. 370 bar is significantly higher, 450 would be pretty wild. They've peaked on specific impulse, looks like.
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