SpaceX readies for another attempt at 13th Starship test flight in Texas

Fox 7 Austin ^ | July 23, 2026 9:05 AM CDT | Steven Ardary

[citizen]

SpaceX to launch 13th Starship flight test What we know: SpaceX's latest test flight is currently scheduled for Thursday with the 90-minute launch window opening at 5:45 p.m.

The latest test flight will test the company's Super Heavy booster with the objective of a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn and landing burn. SpaceX said the booster's hardware has been modified to improve relight reliability.

For Starship, the company hopes to launch 20 Starlink satellites and have a successful relight of an engine while in space with a controlled entry, descent and splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The company is also doing some testing of Starship's heat shields.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: spacex; spacexflight13; spacexstarship; starlink; starship; superheavy

[citizen]

"The Federal Aviation Administration cited "heat effects on propulsion system components during the ascent and erroneous engine alarm system settings" as causes for the booster's failure. SpaceX said those issues have been addressed for the upcoming test."

Let's git 'er done!

One headline questioned if Bertha would complicate the launch...

Where's the best live video? I'm looking at spacelaunchschedule.com atm. Live at 1:45CT

[fella]

If Elon was to boost Space-X stock sales just orbit a StarShip.

[citizen]

If all goes well on Flight 13, I expect an orbital mission may be attempted on Flight 14.

But, as Flight 13 is an Indian Ocean landing/splash for Flight 13, they may want to have a successful ship catch before going orbital.

[citizen]

For those who think SpaceX is ‘going too slow’, hers a link to thumbnail descriptions of all SpaceX accomplishments since the company was formed. It’s pretty impressive.

https://populartimelines.com/timeline/SpaceX/full

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks citizen!

• Starship's Thirteenth Flight Test | SpaceX

[thepoodlebites]

I check-in with
https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13

Prepare to disengage external inertial dampeners. God Speed Starship 13.

[Dead Corpse]

Scrubbed for weather. Road and beach are back open...

[citizen]

Oh, darn. A 24-hr delay. At least they called it earlier than in the last half-hour.

The thirteenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch Friday, July 24. The 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. CT.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The original Starship Live link used to be counting down, but has now rest to tomorrow, 24 July:

July 24, 2026 18:45 - 20:15 ET

[Robert A Cook PE]

Ya beat me by 2-1/2 minutes!

[Theophilus]

today scrubbed?

[Rockingham]

Among other canny strategic insights, Musk recognized that rocket science and the space program progressed through experimental effort and failure before achieving success. So Musk instructed his Space-X engineers to “fail more quickly” in order to create reliable reusable rockets. The result is that Space-X now dominates the commercial launch business. The Starship launch may or may not succeed tonight, but I have no doubt that the design will soon enough work as intended.

[Dead Corpse]

They had just started chilling the lines and then shut everything down. Was watching on the NSF live feed..

[Robert A Cook PE]

Yes. Tonight, the SpaceX website has the new date and time scheduled for tomorrow (July 24, 2026 18:45 - 20:15 ET).

[SunkenCiv]

Yup.

• Starship's Thirteenth Flight Test | SpaceX
  The thirteenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch Friday, July 24. The 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. CT. [July 24, 2026 18:45 - 20:15 ET]