Starship | Flight 13
13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink satellites to space, which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. 6 of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.
The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).
Coverage
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Live coverage: SpaceX ready for 2nd attempt to launch Starship Flight 13 following post-abort engine work
The flight comes as Tropical Storm Bertha is expected to make landfall in Texas on Thursday. Liftoff of the Starship Flight 13 mission is scheduled during a…
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Path to Starship Flight 13 requires additional Booster 20 test
SpaceX continues to target no earlier than Thursday, July 23, for the next attempt to… The post Path to Starship Flight 13 requires additional Booster 20 test…
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Launch Preview: Falcon 9, Starship, and Chinese rockets scheduled to launch
After last week’s aborted Starship Flight 13 launch, SpaceX is scheduling a new attempt as… The post Launch Preview: Falcon 9, Starship, and Chinese rockets…