Monday, July 20, 2026

SpaceX targets July 23 for Starship Flight 13 after engine swap

SpaceX

SpaceX is now targeting July 23 for its 13th Starship test flight after an interim July 20 window slipped, following the July 16 launch abort that halted the countdown at T-0 when four of Super Heavy's 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite. Engineers removed and replaced two Raptors on the booster before the next attempt. The mission - the second flight of the more powerful Version 3 vehicle - aims to deploy 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time on a suborbital trajectory, six of them carrying cameras to inspect the ship's heat-shield tiles before reentry.