Starship Flight 13: Probably the ultimate Suborbital Flight

Nearly two months after the primary Block 3 Starship flight with Booster 19 and Ship 39, SpaceX is ready to launch Flight 13 with Booster 20 and Ship 40, as quickly as Thursday, July 16, at 5:45 pm CDT. Whereas this flight is kind of a repeat of Flight 12, there are variations as SpaceX makes an attempt to push the Starship program in the direction of orbit.

Flight 12 Recap

Flight 12 with Booster 19 and Ship 39 lifted off on Might 22 and instantly had all 33 engines working throughout ascent. Then, almost two minutes into the ascent burn, a single Raptor 3 engine shut down for an unknown motive. Even with a single engine out, the booster accomplished its ascent burn.

Then, throughout scorching staging and stage separation, Booster 19 was flipped 90 levels the incorrect means, which precipitated a number of points through the flip and relight of the Raptor engines. This led to a number of Raptors having energetic occasions, and the whole boost-back burn being shut down very early. Booster 19 would then glide down, try a touchdown burn, however in the end blow up earlier than hitting the water.

Flight 12 Liftoff (Credit score: Max Evans for NSF)

Ship 39 continued its ascent burn, and at about 40 seconds after stage separation, a single Raptor Vacuum engine would shut down. The ship would then show its engine-out functionality and full the ascent burn, reaching its deliberate suborbital trajectory.

Ship 39 would then deploy its 22 satellites, which included two Dodger Canine, which have been Starlink V2 minis modified to suit with the pez and have cameras and flashlights hooked up. These two satellites would then take photos of the ship’s warmth defend earlier than burning up behind the ship throughout reentry. Possible as a result of engine out on ascent, SpaceX opted to not carry out the in-space burn of one of many Raptor 3 sea-level engines.

Views of Starship in house from a @Starlink satellite tv for pc pic.twitter.com/5hfw1n8v1o
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 22, 2026

The ship would then carry out a near-flawless reentry and dynamic banking maneuver earlier than splashing down within the Indian Ocean proper on the right track. Whereas Booster 19 and Ship 39 had their points, the automobiles carried out very nicely for being the primary flight of Block 3 of Starship. It was additionally the primary flight from Pad 2, which had barely been touched after Flight 12 lifted off, validating the brand new design.

Booster 20

The automobiles for this flight are Booster 20 and Ship 40, each of which have undergone adjustments and upgrades primarily based on further testing and flight information.

First off, Booster 20 has a couple of noticeable adjustments on the surface. The ahead dome of Booster has further metal heat-shield safety used throughout scorching staging. One other noticeable change is the addition of a doubler over a seam weld slightly below the widespread dome on the short disconnect facet of the booster. This doubler is in the very same spot the place B18.3 crumpled throughout its first can crusher take a look at on January 20, 2026.

STARSHIP FLIGHT 12 MISHAP INVESTIGATION CLOSED AND FLIGHT 13 GREEN LIGHT GIVEN
The SpaceX-led Starship Flight 12 mishap investigation has now been closed, and the FAA has given the inexperienced gentle for SpaceX to proceed with Flight 13 operations, offered all security and different… pic.twitter.com/mn5Gu9qSus
— Jake (Max-Q) (@J_A_Rees_94) July 13, 2026

Different upgrades are meant to deal with the failed boost-back burn, which prompted a mishap investigation. This mishap investigation has since been closed, and states that the almost certainly causes for the failure have been warmth results on engine parts throughout ascent and faulty engine alarm system settings. To repair these points, {hardware} mods have been made to enhance relight reliability, together with engine alarms and aborts to match situations noticed within the multi-engine flight setting.

With these upgrades, Booster 20 has a significantly better probability of constructing it previous the boost-back burn and, hopefully, finishing a profitable touchdown burn.

Ship 40

The one main visible variations on Ship 40 are some warmth shielding and a pair of latest directional vents on the edges of the Liquid Oxygen (LOX) tank. In any other case, upgrades have been made to deal with points throughout stage separation and ascent.

To assist forestall points throughout booster flips, the engine startup sequence has been modified to introduce higher timing variability, extra reliably flipping the booster within the desired route.

There have been additionally a number of software program and {hardware} adjustments made to stop the Raptor Vacuum engine failure that occurred throughout ascent on Flight 12.

The warmth defend will even characteristic a number of experiments, together with leeward-side tile patches on the tank partitions and on the aft flaps to check totally different attachment strategies. The aft skirt of the ship will even characteristic modified tiles and attachment mechanisms. Throughout the warmth defend, there will even be load-sensing tiles, which is able to assist collect information throughout ascent, as this flight will expertise increased dynamic pressures than earlier flights.

Lastly, tiles can be painted white to simulate lacking tiles for the Starlink V3 satellites to {photograph}.

Mission Goals, Trajectory, Timeline, and Launch Home windows

The mission aims for Flight 13 are principally the identical as these for Flight 12. Nevertheless, there are a couple of adjustments and additions; the booster will carry out a extra aggressive ascent burn after Max Q, which can be examined with load-sensing warmth defend tiles on the ship, and the ship will deploy precise V3 Starlink satellites moderately than mass simulators and the 2 dodger canine from Flight 12.

The trajectory is similar because the final flight, with the stack heading south of Cuba and nonetheless set to land within the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, there are a couple of timeline adjustments throughout preflight and in-flight.

Flight 13 Prelaunch Timeline (Credit score: SpaceX)

For Flight 12, SpaceX started propellant loading of the stack at T-00:38:53, with Ship LOX loading for Flight 13 now beginning at T-00:37:30, leading to fueling that’s now 1 minute and 23 seconds quicker total. So the whole fueling time is now right down to 35 minutes and 20 seconds; this additionally means the opposite occasions have been adjusted accordingly to make the fueling quicker.

Throughout flight, Max Q now happens 13 seconds later, however Most Engines Cutoff (MECO) happens 4 seconds sooner; this exhibits that SpaceX isn’t going to throttle down as a lot after Max Q to see how nicely the stack holds up.

Flight 13 Flight Timeline (Credit score: SpaceX)

With MECO occurring sooner throughout ascent, all different timeline factors are barely modified as nicely. At T+00:16:40 is ready because the payload deployment time for the 20 Starlink V3 satellites. This would be the first time this model of Starlink will fly.

Six of those Starlinks can be fitted with lights and cameras to take a look at Ship 40’s warmth defend earlier than reentry. All the Starlinks will even deploy their photo voltaic arrays and antennas to check newer {hardware} and can try to attach with the bigger Starlink constellation through high-capacity lasers.

The launch window is presently 90 minutes, beginning at 5:45 pm CDT on Thursday, July 16. There are a number of backup dates with marine and airspace notices for July 17 by means of July 21. At the moment, the highway closure begins at 12:00 pm CDT and lasts till 8:30 PM CDT.

If this flight goes nicely, Flight 13 will be the last suborbital flight for a very long time, as SpaceX is more likely to push for orbit on Flight 14.

(Lead picture through Max Evans for NSF).