SpaceX is ready for another Starship test flight

Later today, SpaceX is gearing up for its next attempt at launching its 13th Starship test flight from Starbase, Texas. The previous attempt on July 16 was aborted just before liftoff due to issues with two Raptor engines.

At 5:45 PM CT, SpaceX is hoping to launch its 13th Starship rocket on a test flight that will be similar to its 12th mission back in February. Starship Flight 13 will have a 90 minute launch window and SpaceX will begin live launch updates 30 minutes before the planned liftoff time.

Currently, SpaceX says that weather is the primary concern, with rain and potential thunderstorms throughout the day. Per city road closures, SpaceX could have backup launch times for tomorrow or Saturday.

Starship Flight 13 will be suborbital, like all the test flights before it, its goal is to continue to gather flight data on the new V3 version of Starship. It will also test the changes made between Flight 12 and now. SpaceX made changes to Starship to fix what caused Flight 12’s booster to fail its soft splashdown and one Raptor Vacuum engine failing during flight, causing a lower than planned trajectory.

Flight 13’s Ship will also plan to deploy the first Starlink V3 satellites into space. While suborbital and planned to burn up on reentry within the hour, these new satellites will attempt to unfold their solar panels and connect with the network. Launching these larger and more capable V3 satellites is one of Starship’s key purposes for SpaceX.

Other than those new satellites, if you’ve followed previous Starship launches before, the flight profile will be very much the same. The Booster will attempt a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, the Ship will attempt a precision landing in the Indian Ocean, and expect to see plenty of tests during flight like engine relights, aerodynamic maneuvers, and test heat shield tiles all over the vehicle.