Saturday, July 25, 2026

Starship Flight 13 succeeds, deploys first Starlink V3 satellites

SpaceXStarlink

SpaceX launched its 13th Starship test flight on July 24 from Starbase, Texas, and for the first time deployed 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, the largest payload the vehicle has ever carried and one too big to fly on Falcon 9. Both stages returned under control: the Super Heavy booster made an offshore splashdown, though only about five of its planned landing-burn engines lit and it came down faster than hoped, while the upper stage performed what SpaceX called its softest splashdown yet in the Indian Ocean, and the company made contact with all 20 satellites. It was the second flight of the more powerful Version 3 vehicle and SpaceX's cleanest Starship mission to date, a milestone for scaling Starlink capacity since a full 60-satellite Starship load can add roughly 60 terabits per second, about 20 times a Falcon 9 batch of V2 Mini satellites.