How SpaceX Starship Flight 13 completed launch, satellite deployment and Indian Ocean splashdown

SpaceX Starship Flight 13 launched from Starbase in southern Texas on 24 July 2026, deployed 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites, restarted a Raptor engine in space and brought the Starship upper stage through atmospheric re-entry to a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The approximately 65-minute test delivered several of the programme’s most important objectives after an earlier launch attempt was stopped by engine problems and a subsequent attempt was postponed because of severe weather, The WP Times reports.

The flight was not an entirely clean success. Ship 40 survived re-entry with limited visible damage and remained intact after touching down, but the Super Heavy booster failed to relight enough engines to slow itself as planned and struck the Gulf of Mexico harder than intended. The mixed result nevertheless gave SpaceX flight data on satellite deployment, engine restarting, thermal protection and atmospheric control — four systems that must work reliably before Starship can begin routine orbital missions or support NASA’s future lunar programme.

What happened during the SpaceX Starship Flight 13 launch

The 13th integrated Starship test began at SpaceX’s Starbase complex near Boca Chica, on the southern tip of Texas. The full vehicle consisted of Super Heavy Booster 20 and the Ship 40 upper stage, both belonging to the company’s newer Version 3 generation.

The rocket lifted off after a 90-minute launch window opened at 5.45pm Central Time. Its 33 methane-fuelled Raptor engines produced the thrust required to move the roughly 122-metre vehicle away from the launch site and across the Gulf of Mexico.

After the initial climb, Starship completed hot-stage separation, a process in which the upper-stage engines ignite before the booster has fully separated. Ship 40 continued on a suborbital trajectory while Booster 20 began its planned return towards a designated area in the Gulf.

The upper stage then reached an altitude of about 200 kilometres and opened its payload door. It released 20 Starlink V3 satellites, marking the first time a Starship test had carried and deployed production spacecraft rather than inert or simulated payloads. The satellites were not placed into permanent orbit. They followed approximately the same suborbital path as Ship 40 and were designed to re-enter and burn up around 20 minutes after deployment. Their short mission allowed SpaceX to test mechanical release, solar-array deployment, communications equipment and laser links without leaving experimental hardware in orbit.

SpaceX Starship Flight 13 mission results

Why the Starlink V3 deployment mattered for Starship Flight 13

The deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites was one of the most important elements of Starship Flight 13 because it moved the programme beyond flights carrying only inert payload simulators. Earlier missions had tested the payload door and release mechanism with Starlink-shaped demonstration hardware; Ship 40 carried functional spacecraft designed to extend their solar arrays and antennas, communicate with the operational Starlink network and exchange data through high-capacity optical links. Six satellites also carried cameras and sensors intended to observe Starship’s thermal protection system during flight. The spacecraft remained on the same suborbital trajectory as Ship 40 and were expected to burn up during re-entry roughly 20 minutes after deployment, meaning they were never intended to join the permanent constellation. Their short operating life did not reduce the technical significance of the test: SpaceX needed to prove that Starship could open its payload bay, release production hardware and establish communications in flight. The larger and heavier V3 generation is central to Starship’s commercial role because Falcon 9 can continue launching existing Starlink satellites, while Starship’s wider payload bay is intended to carry substantially more spacecraft and communications capacity on each mission.

How Ship 40 completed its Indian Ocean splashdown

After releasing the satellites, Ship 40 continued eastwards across the Atlantic, Africa and the Indian Ocean on a trajectory that remained below stable orbit. SpaceX then restarted one of the upper stage’s Raptor engines in space, completing a demonstration that Flight 12 had failed to perform after an earlier engine shutdown. The test was essential because future orbital Starships must be able to restart their engines after coasting in order to adjust their trajectory and conduct a controlled deorbit burn. Ship 40 then entered the most severe phase of the flight, descending through intense aerodynamic heating while its four flaps controlled orientation and speed. Live video showed plasma surrounding the stainless-steel vehicle, but telemetry and images continued to reach the ground through SpaceX’s satellite network. Starship remained in a largely horizontal “belly-flop” attitude during the descent before rotating into a vertical position close to the ocean. Its engines ignited for the final braking manoeuvre and the vehicle completed a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean, remaining upright and visibly intact in the water. SpaceX did not plan to recover Ship 40; the objective was to test re-entry control, engine relight and the landing sequence rather than preserve the spacecraft for another flight.

Why the Super Heavy booster failed to complete a soft landing

The principal failure of Starship Flight 13 occurred during the return of Super Heavy Booster 20. After stage separation, the booster began a boostback manoeuvre intended to direct it towards a controlled impact area in the Gulf of Mexico, but several engines failed to restart during the final landing burn. Early flight accounts indicated that five engines did not relight successfully, leaving the vehicle without enough thrust to reduce its speed before contact with the water. The booster consequently struck the Gulf harder than planned instead of completing a controlled splashdown. The result echoed difficulties encountered during Flight 12, when Booster 19’s post-separation orientation was incorrect and five of its 33 sea-level engines also experienced problems, preventing a nominal boostback burn. SpaceX had modified Booster 20’s hardware and revised its engine alarms, abort logic and relight procedures before Flight 13, but the changes did not fully eliminate the fault. Engineers will now have to examine ignition timing, propellant delivery, tank conditions and the interaction between multiple engines during descent, when pressure, acceleration and remaining fuel levels differ sharply from those in a ground test. Reliable engine relight is fundamental to Starship’s economic model because SpaceX ultimately intends to return Super Heavy to Starbase, catch it with the launch tower’s mechanical arms, inspect it and fly it again. Flight 13 did not include a tower-catch attempt, but a controlled landing burn remains a necessary step before such recoveries can become routine.

Why SpaceX aborted the earlier Starship Flight 13 attempt

Flight 13 launched only after a week of engine work and a separate weather delay. During an attempt on 16 July, the Raptor engines ignited while the vehicle remained secured to the launch mount, but telemetry suggested that four engines had failed to start correctly and the system automatically aborted the flight before liftoff. SpaceX removed Ship 40 from Booster 20 and returned both stages to the production area, while Elon Musk said at least two engines would need to be replaced following the abrupt shutdown. Booster 20 returned to Pad 2 on 21 July and underwent further loading tests with liquid methane and liquid oxygen before Ship 40 was stacked above it again. SpaceX prepared for another attempt on 23 July, but weather associated with Tropical Storm Bertha remained a significant risk and the launch was postponed until 24 July. The sequence underlined the experimental status of the programme: unlike an established commercial launcher, Starship is still being modified between flights, and each test can expose faults requiring changes to engines, software, heat-shield tiles or structural hardware before the vehicle returns to the pad.

How Starship Flight 13 tested the heat shield under greater stress

Ship 40’s thermal protection system was another central focus of the mission. Starship relies on thousands of heat-resistant tiles to shield its stainless-steel structure from the temperatures generated during atmospheric re-entry, but those tiles must first survive launch vibration, changing pressure and extreme temperature differences in space. For Flight 13, SpaceX installed modified tiles and tested alternative attachment methods around the aft skirt and flaps. Some areas were deliberately altered or left exposed so engineers could measure how the surrounding structure responded when individual tiles were absent. The spacecraft also carried load-sensing tiles to record forces during ascent, while SpaceX flew the vehicle through higher dynamic pressure than on some earlier missions to place greater stress on the attachment system and collect data relevant to heavier payloads. Images transmitted during re-entry indicated that the main heat shield remained largely intact, although the decisive assessment will come from telemetry rather than exterior video. Ship 40 reached the ocean without the extensive visible structural damage recorded on several earlier tests, but the result did not demonstrate full reusability. A reusable Starship would have to return to a landing site, undergo limited inspection and fly again without extensive rebuilding. Flight 13 instead showed that the current protection system could carry the vehicle through a demanding re-entry and provide engineers with further data on tile design, attachment strength and structural heating.

What Starship Flight 13 means for NASA’s Artemis programme

Starship is not being developed only as a launcher for Starlink satellites or as a future Mars vehicle. NASA has selected a modified lunar version as one of the human landing systems intended to carry astronauts between lunar orbit and the Moon’s surface. That role means SpaceX must demonstrate far more than a successful launch, payload deployment and ocean splashdown. The programme still requires repeated orbital flights, reliable recovery of both stages, long-duration operation in space, storage of cryogenic propellants, large-scale fuel transfer between spacecraft, docking with Orion, life-support validation and an uncrewed lunar landing. NASA’s evolving Artemis architecture also requires SpaceX and Blue Origin to prove that their commercial landers can rendezvous and dock safely with Orion before either system carries astronauts to the lunar surface. A Starship pathfinder is expected to support a crewed demonstration in Earth orbit before a later lunar mission uses the operational lander. NASA’s Office of Inspector General reported in March 2026 that SpaceX planned a vehicle-to-vehicle propellant-transfer demonstration during the year, a critical milestone because the lunar lander would need to be refuelled in orbit before travelling to the Moon. Flight 13 therefore advanced several relevant technologies, particularly engine restart, thermal protection and in-flight payload operations, but it did not remove the programme’s larger schedule and development risks.

Was SpaceX Starship Flight 13 a complete success

Starship Flight 13 was a successful upper-stage test with a significant booster failure, not a flawless mission. Ship 40 reached its planned trajectory, deployed 20 functional satellites, restarted a Raptor engine in space, survived atmospheric re-entry, completed its landing flip and achieved a soft Indian Ocean splashdown. Booster 20, however, failed to complete the intended controlled descent after several engines did not relight during the final burn. The distinction matters because experimental flights are designed to reveal weaknesses, but a fully reusable launch system cannot depend on partial engine performance during recovery. Even so, Flight 13 marked measurable progress by combining production satellite deployment, an in-space engine restart, a demanding heat-shield test and a largely intact upper-stage splashdown within a single mission. SpaceX’s next challenge is not merely to repeat those achievements, but to do so consistently while resolving the Super Heavy relight problem and moving from disposable test vehicles towards recovered hardware. Flight 13 demonstrated that the Starship upper stage can perform several core mission tasks in sequence; it also showed that the booster return system remains unfinished.

Read about the life of Westminster and Pimlico district, London and the world. 24/7 news with fresh and useful updates on culture, business, technology and city life: Will Elon Musk’s Tesla Tiny House Really Reach the UK – or Is It Just Another Vision

Materials used: SpaceX, NASA, the US Government Accountability Office, Spaceflight Now, Reuters and the BBC.