SpaceX continues to focus on no sooner than Thursday, July 23, for the subsequent try to launch Starship on its thirteenth flight.
Preparations embody swapping out engines on Booster 20, with a possible standalone check at Pad 2 on Wednesday earlier than returning to full stack countdown operations.
Each Booster 20 and Ship 40 had been rolled again to the manufacturing website following a last-second computerized abort throughout the preliminary launch try on July 16.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk acknowledged that two Raptor engines on the booster could be swapped out “to be assured of an excellent flight.”
Notably, at the very least three engines related to Booster 20 have been seen at SpaceX’s McGregor check website, which can be contributing to the prolonged turnaround from the initially hoped-for Monday try.
One other Raptor beforehand put in on Booster 20 is at SpaceX's McGregor check website.
That is the third we've seen to date, indicating that greater than two have been eliminated. This engine was additionally a part of Booster 19's 10-engine complement again in March. pic.twitter.com/4kTo52HNTL
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) July 20, 2026
The corporate’s public schedule presently lists July 23 because the goal, although further time may very well be added as additional testing on Pad 2 has been confirmed by way of highway and seaside closure notifications.
This testing would doubtless take the type of a Spin Prime check slightly than a full Static Fireplace, though nothing might be dominated out forward of the check.
The window for Wednesday’s testing ranges from 9 AM to 11 PM Central.
Prime o' the morning to you, Booster 20. What does destiny have in retailer for you immediately?
Approaching immediately's highway/seaside closure at 9am for SpaceX groups to conduct prelaunch booster testing forward of tomorrow's launch try of Starship Flight 13, assuming all goes effectively.
-… pic.twitter.com/IHgLcy5fj1
— Max Evans (@_MaxQ_) July 22, 2026
-… The automobile would require detanking and the tank farm topping up, together with Ship 40 being rolled and stacked forward of the launch try. A highway closure has already been posted for Ship 40’s return, with the potential that it is going to be rolled partly down Freeway 4 ready for Booster 20 to finish safing.
The July 16 Launch Try
The subsequent try started with commonplace pre-launch preparations.
Booster 20 was rolled out and stacked onto the Orbital Launch Mount slightly below two days earlier than the scheduled liftoff.
Ship 40, carrying 20 Starlink V3 satellites for a deliberate check deployment on a suborbital trajectory, arrived on the launch website lower than 24 hours earlier than launch.
After deployment, the Ship was anticipated to carry out atmospheric reentry and a managed end-of-mission demonstration.
The goal liftoff time was set for 22:45 UTC. The countdown progressed easily till a maintain at T-60 seconds.
SpaceX had adjusted the deliberate maintain level from the extra conventional T-40 seconds to T-60 seconds.
Holds at this level are widespread for Starship, permitting controllers to carry out one ultimate test earlier than committing to the ultimate seconds of the rely.
This modification to T-60 seconds permits ultimate pre-launch checks to be carried out barely earlier within the sequence, serving to to distribute workload extra evenly forward of liftoff.
It additionally preserves the choice to recycle the countdown again to T-60 seconds if a maintain is named earlier than the deluge system prompts.
As soon as the deluge has fired, nonetheless, any maintain mechanically ends in a scrub for that try, because the system can’t be reset shortly sufficient.
The OLM on Pad 2 as seen throughout Tuesday’s NSF flyover.
SpaceX sometimes maintains 5 to eight minutes of accessible maintain time earlier than a launch try should be known as off.
Earlier flights, together with Flight 12, have proven the power to carry and recycle for practically 10 minutes in some instances.
After the T-60 maintain was cleared, the countdown resumed with out additional interruption.
The detonation suppression system activated beneath the pad, adopted by the flame trench and prime deck deluge techniques.
Telemetry then confirmed 29 of Booster 20’s 33 Raptor engines ignited.
Virtually instantly afterward, the automobile’s onboard computer systems triggered an computerized abort and shut the engines down.
This marked the primary post-ignition abort throughout an precise Starship launch try, resulting in some gallows humor from SpaceX senior supervisor Kate Tice.
First V3 full stack static fireplace full…
— kate_tice (@kate_tice) July 16, 2026
What Triggered the Abort
The abort was triggered as a result of the automobile exceeded its engine-out standards.
Starship is designed to tolerate as much as three engine failures throughout the startup sequence.
As soon as a fourth engine did not ignite, the launch commit standards had been not glad, and the system initiated the abort.
Starship Flight 13: T-0 Abort.
Stay on X and YT: pic.twitter.com/y9DcVZIV1c
— NSF – NASASpaceflight.com (@NASASpaceflight) July 16, 2026
The timing of the abort relative to deluge activation made restoration unattainable for that day.
With the deluge system already working, a number of minutes would have been required to reset it and put together for one more try.
That timeframe would have exceeded the out there maintain time.
Refueling your complete stack after detanking would have taken two to 4 hours, far past the 90-minute launch window.
The exact motive why 4 engines did not ignite remains to be beneath evaluation. It seems unlikely that the ten refurbished engines carried over from Booster 19’s earlier static fireplace had been the primary trigger. Solely a type of engines, Raptor serial quantity 78, failed to begin.
Any underlying points ought to have been recognized throughout the automobile’s 25-second static fireplace check previous to rollout, until injury occurred throughout or after that check.
This occasion differed from the arduous shutdown skilled throughout Booster 19’s static fireplace. In that earlier check, a problem with the pad’s deluge system led to an abrupt engine cutoff simply over a second after ignition. The speedy shutdown whereas engines had been nonetheless of their startup sequence prompted injury to the affected engines, which had been later repaired and put in on Booster 20.
In distinction, the Flight 13 abort was initiated by the automobile itself after deluge activation. This allowed the efficiently ignited engines to close down in a extra managed method, lowering the chance of injury to each the engines and the launch pad. Submit-abort evaluation and imagery have to date proven no apparent indicators of such injury.
Following the scrub, each the Ship and Booster had been rolled again for detailed inspections. Because the Booster was lifted off the mount, NSF cameras confirmed the Raptor engines clearly. Some paint chipping was noticed across the Booster Fast Disconnects, however that is thought-about regular and has no impression on operations.
Trying Forward
Flight 13 continues to hold ahead enhancements from earlier missions, together with the deliberate check deployment of the Starlink V3 satellites from the Ship higher stage throughout the suborbital flight profile.
The sequence of occasions on July 16 offered helpful information on Starship’s abort capabilities beneath actual launch situations. The system carried out as designed by stopping a launch when engine efficiency fell beneath acceptable thresholds, even after ignition had begun.
The saying within the rocket business is “Scrubs are higher than RUDs” (Speedy Unplanned Disassembly). This consequence, whereas leading to a scrub, reinforces confidence within the automobile’s automated security techniques forward of the subsequent try.
(Lead picture by way of Max Evans for NSF).
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