SpaceX canceled the launch of its Starship Flight 13 on July 16 due to a failure in the ignition of some Raptor engines. The mission, planned to take off from Starbase in Texas, was aborted just as the Super Heavy booster ignited. CEO Elon Musk indicated via social media that two engines would be replaced and that they aimed to conduct another launch early the following week.
Flight 13 is a suborbital test for the upgraded Starship V3, designed for future orbital missions, and includes significant changes following issues from the previous Flight 12. Notably, this mission will carry 20 functional Starlink V3 satellites for in-flight testing, marking a shift from prior flights that used mass simulators.
These new satellites are optimized for Starship launches and promise significantly improved capabilities over existing models, including higher downlink and uplink capacities. The cancellation also impacted SpaceX’s stock price, which dropped sharply during after-hours trading following the announcement.
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