After a bruising attempt in May, SpaceX will push new engine fixes, a revised flip maneuver, and fresh heat-shield experiments on its 13th test flight of Starship.
This time, engineers want the rocket booster to separate cleanly from the ship in the air, swing around the right way, fire its engines again, and splash down gently in the Gulf of Mexico. They've changed how engines light and tweaked the landing sequence, which plops the ship into the Indian Ocean. The modifications follow the 12th flight's botched flip and several engine restarting failures.
Starship also has a new job: carrying 20 real satellites as opposed to dummies. The payload includes Starlink V3 internet satellites, some of which are wired with cameras and sensors to monitor the rocket's heat shield during its fall back to Earth.
The launch, which could occur Thursday, July 16, is the latest step in SpaceX's long campaign to turn the most powerful rocket ever built from a spectacular one‑off into a reusable workhorse — one that can haul heavy cargo into space, survive the fiery plunge home, support NASA's moon landings, and eventually execute Elon Musk's Mars ambitions.
"The thing that separates us from a lot of other companies is that we test fast and we test often, and that includes launches," said Tim Southerton, director of Starship launch engineering, in SpaceX's latest mini documentary. "We want to make sure the vehicle's all ready to go. We want to make sure the ground's all ready to go, but we also don't want to be caught in analysis paralysis."
SpaceX says it will stream the South Texas launch on its website and X, the social media platform owned by Musk. The broadcast is expected to start about 30 minutes before liftoff, which could happen as early as 5:45 p.m. CT.
As always with Starship, the schedule is more of a moving target than a promise. Weather, high winds, boats drifting into the safety zone, or a finicky valve could pause the countdown.
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But once it gets off the ground, Starship will try to behave more like a future deep‑space ship. It will deploy its satellites, then attempt to restart a single engine while coasting, a skill SpaceX says it will need for future missions that change course or head to the moon.
The satellites themselves are not meant to last. They will follow Starship's short arc through space and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes after they separate.
While waiting for ignition, viewers can watch SpaceX's short documentary, called "Critical Path," below. The film follows engineers and pad crews through the final days before the previous flight, which included aborted countdowns, an arm that refused to retract, and even a massive tower chain that snapped and had to be replaced in roughly 1.5 days.
During the film, Musk appears in the firing room, peering at consoles over shoulders, but speaks little. Justin Styer, the company's senior Starship launch director, says the founder is "actually" good at quickly absorbing information and understanding the stakes.
"I personally have never felt any pressure from Elon of like, 'It doesn't matter, hell or high water, we're flying this rocket.' Like, absolutely not. That's not his style," Styer said. "And, like I said, the critical path to Mars is not blowing up rockets."