SpaceX to try its luck again with Starship Flight 13 after engines and weather say no

SCIENCE

Replacement Raptors head for liftoff without a static fire test

SpaceX is gearing up for another attempt to launch Starship following a last-second abort on July 16 and a scrub due to weather yesterday.

The 90-minute launch window for Starship's 13th flight test will open at 1745 CT on Friday, July 24. The launch was postponed by 24 hours due to weather, according to SpaceX.

Elon Musk's rocketeers explained: "A key objective for the flight test is to get clear imagery from the ground of Starship's heatshield as it flies at a higher dynamic pressure during ascent, which won't be possible with today's weather conditions. Visibility is forecast to be ideal for a Friday attempt."

The first attempt last week was aborted in the final seconds after some of the booster's Raptor engines failed to start. At the time, Musk said "two Raptors will be removed and replaced."

Interestingly, the company did not perform a static fire test of the booster with the new engines on July 22, opting for what appeared to be little more than a leak check. The Register asked SpaceX what testing it performed, but it has yet to respond. In a post on X, the company only stated "additional preflight testing on Super Heavy complete." There is speculation that last-second shutdowns, whether during a static fire or launch attempt, may not be kind to Raptor engines.

The Starship project is under greater scrutiny than ever. NASA requires it to have orbital capability for Artemis III in 2027, and a launch cadence high enough to support a lunar landing mission in 2028. SpaceX is also a publicly traded company and, while its current stock price has already fallen below its IPO, it could do without further rattling investor nerves with a failure.

Should all go well, the entire mission should last just over an hour. After launching Starship, the Super Heavy booster is expected to make a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. Starship will use its Raptor engines to enter a suborbital trajectory before coming down in the Indian Ocean.

Before re-entry, SpaceX plans to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites, which will follow the vehicle on its suborbital trajectory, and attempt a relight of a Raptor engine. The latter is a critical step on the path to Starship going orbital. ®