SpaceX will take another run at launching its Starship-Super Heavy rocket from southern Texas, but faces challenges during the passage of Tropical Storm Bertha.
Like the attempt one week ago, a 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. CDT (6:45 p.m. EDT / 2245 UTC). The flight comes after days of work replacing and testing multiple Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster.
Spaceflight Now will have live coverage beginning about two hours prior to liftoff.
Moments before the post-ignition abort on Thursday, July 16, on-screen telemetry data showed four engines that apparently did not ignite. During the pre-dawn hours of Friday, July 17, Ship 40 (S40) was de-stacked from Booster 20 (B20) and returned to the production site at Starbase.
Later that day, SpaceX also removed B20 and rolled it along the nearly three trek back to the production site as well. Founder Elon Musk said that at least two Raptor engines needed to be removed following the hard engine stop during the launch attempt.
Following a week of work, B20 returned to Pad 2 on Tuesday, July 21. The following day, SpaceX loaded it with both liquid oxygen and liquid methane before draining the vehicle again.
“Additional preflight testing on Super Heavy complete. Now starting preparations to launch Starship as soon as tomorrow, Thursday, July 23,” SpaceX posted on social media following the test’s conclusion. “Weather is currently a significant watch item for launch.”
Ship 40 returned the pad on Wednesday, July 22, and was stacked atop Booster 20 that evening.
One of the main objectives of this 13th test flight is to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites from S40. SpaceX has previously deployed Starlink simulators from previous Starships, but this would be the first deployment of production satellites.
“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,” SpaceX said on its website. “The Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment.”
SpaceX also plans to perform a Raptor engine relight following the roughly 11-minute satellite deploy sequence. Teams also hope that work done on the sea-level Raptor engines combined with a new startup sequence on the Ship upper stage will allow for a successful boostback burn on Booster 20 and a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.
During Starship Flight 12 back in May, SpaceX said the startup sequence of the engines on Ship 39 “caused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees.” That coupled with issues with five out of 33 sea-level engines on the booster prevented a nominal boostback burn and Booster 19 was lost prematurely.
“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 company said.
Other engine improvements are designed to prevent an early shutdown seen during Flight 12 that prevented an engine relight demonstration on that mission.
Work on the upper stage’s heat shield to help push it towards future, full reusability will also be on display.
“Multiple tiles will be attached to the metallic side of Starship’s aft flaps along with modified tiles and attachment mechanisms in the heat shield covering the aft skirt to gather flight data on different attachment options,” SpaceX said. “Finally, Starship’s heat shield 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.”
A nearly identical version of the Starship Version 3 rocket flying today will be used on the Artemis 3 mission, which will include a docking between Starship and NASA’s Orion spacecraft.
A new report published by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Thursday looks at a series of NASA’s long-term projects, including those involved with the Artemis Program.
It points to “a series of testing challenges” encountered by SpaceX when it comes to the Human Landing System version of Starship that will be used to return humans to the Moon. NASA wants to perform a lunar landing with astronauts as soon as 2028 with either Starship or Blue Origin’s Blue Moon Mark 2 lander.
The GAO report noted not only is SpaceX “more than a year behind its original schedule for key events,” like the critical design review and an uncrewed landing demonstration, but development of its Raptor engines is described as a “top risk.”
“According to HLS officials, the latest version of the Raptor engine incorporates improvements such as welded fuel joints designed to prevent the fuel leaks that resulted in the loss of the Starship vehicle during flight testing in March 2025,” the report stated. “Flight test 12, conducted in May 2026, was the first flight test of the new version of the engine.”
The GAO report noted that NASA officials pushed back on some assessments and stated that the report’s assessment “does not reflect all ongoing programmatic changes stemming from adjustments made to the Artemis campaign in February and March 2026.”
“Officials did not have any technical corrections on the assessment,” the report said.
