SpaceX Plans Starship V3 Test Flight With Starlink Satellites

What happened

SpaceX announced plans to launch its 13th full-scale Starship test flight on Thursday evening, with a launch window opening at 5:45 PM CDT. This follows the conclusion of an FAA-mandated mishap investigation stemming from the May test flight (Flight 12), during which the Super Heavy booster lost multiple engines after stage separation and crashed into the Gulf of Mexico instead of completing a controlled landing. The spacecraft also lost one of its six Raptor engines during ascent and was unable to conduct a planned in-space engine relight test. The FAA accepted SpaceX's findings, which identified heat effects on propulsion system components and erroneous engine alarm system settings as the most probable root causes, along with four corrective actions including hardware and software configuration updates. The upcoming mission will be the second flight of the redesigned Starship V3, which features more powerful Raptor engines and is designed to deploy larger satellites.

Why it matters

This test flight represents a critical step toward making Starship operational for commercial satellite launches. The mission will carry 20 functional Starlink V3 satellites (not simulators) that will attempt to establish laser communication links with SpaceX's existing Starlink constellation to validate interoperability. Fully-loaded Starships will be capable of launching up to 60 Starlink V3 satellites on a single flight, adding 60 Tbps to the network compared to the 2.6 Tbps added by each Falcon 9 launch with V2 satellites. This represents a dramatic expansion in SpaceX's broadband network capacity. Additionally, the flight will test modifications to address the booster control issues and Raptor engine reliability problems from May, including changes to the engine startup sequence and hardware modifications to improve relight reliability. The mission will also attempt the in-space Raptor engine relight that was skipped in May, a critical capability required before SpaceX can proceed to orbital flights.

Bigger picture

Starship is central to SpaceX's broader ambitions beyond just expanding the Starlink network. The rocket is designed to carry customer payloads, massive platforms for SpaceX's proposed orbital data center network, and support flights to the Moon and Mars. Starship is a core component of NASA's Artemis program to land astronauts at the Moon's south pole. The heat shield remains one of the most significant technical challenges, as SpaceX aims to make it reusable without laborious inspection of the 40,000 tiles between flights. The FAA has granted SpaceX permission to conduct up to 25 launches per year at the Boca Chica facility, with up to 50 landings annually (25 each for Starship and Super Heavy). If successful, this flight would mark the shortest time between consecutive Starship launches from Boca Chica at less than two months, demonstrating SpaceX's increasing operational tempo.

What to watch

Key objectives for Flight 13 include successful stage separation between Super Heavy and Starship, a controlled booster landing in the Gulf of Mexico (which failed in May), and the critical in-space Raptor engine relight test that was skipped during the previous flight. The 20 Starlink V3 satellites will extend their solar arrays and antennas during the hour-long suborbital flight and attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa. Six of the satellites carry cameras to scan Starship's heat shield and transmit imagery to ground engineers, helping assess readiness for future return-to-launch-site missions. SpaceX will test modified tiles and attachment mechanisms on the heat shield, along with load sensing tiles to measure stress during higher dynamic pressure ascent. The spacecraft will target a controlled splashdown northwest of Australia in the Indian Ocean, while the Starlink satellites will burn up during reentry. Alternate launch dates have been set for Friday and July 22 if Thursday's attempt is postponed.