SpaceX's Starship Megarocket Hits Key Milestones In Its 'Lucky 13' Test Flight (cnn.com)
(Saturday July 25, 2026 @03:00AM (EditorDavid)
from the to-the-moon dept.)
- Reference: 0184676274
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/07/25/0511222/spacexs-starship-megarocket-hits-key-milestones-in-its-lucky-13-test-flight
- Source link: https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/24/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-13-launch
SpaceX's Friday launch of its massive Starship rocket "went quite smoothly," [1]reports CNN , with a SpaceX spokesperson calling this mission "Lucky Number 13" (as the [2]13th integrated flight test for a Starship spacecraft with a Super Heavy rocket booster):
> During Starship V3's inaugural test, there were [3]numerous engine issues as several on the booster failed to relight and the Starship spacecraft experienced a nail-biting engine outage. SpaceX also was forced to replace six engines on this vehicle ahead of today's flight because of a likely issue with moisture that prevented at least four from starting up correctly during an initial launch attempt last week... [Friday's Super Heavy rocket booster] fired [4]all 33 of its engines in a pristine performance off the launchpad. The rocket booster also managed to relight 13 engines, as planned, to steer itself back toward a controlled landing. Only when Super Heavy attempted to relight its engines for a controlled landing burn over the Gulf waters did problems arise. The landing was still controlled, though Huot said the vehicle was traveling a bit faster than the company had hoped when it made touchdown. (SpaceX always intended to discard this Super Heavy booster in the ocean.)
>
> The Starship spacecraft had no obvious performance issues, making it all the way through its engine burn and managing to reignite one engine mid-flight as part of a test. It also made a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean — executing its "softest splashdown" to date in a "dream scenario," according to SpaceX's Dan Huot. The touchdown came about an hour after takeoff, as planned. During its coasting phase, Starship also deployed 20 Starlink test satellites, paving the way for operational missions later down the line in which SpaceX plans to deploy large batches of these satellites in a single launch. In another big win, SpaceX said it was able to make contact with each of those satellites.
CNN adds that SpaceX "is facing intense pressure to get Starship ready for a [5]crucial NASA test flight next year that could pave the way for the next moon landing. This flight was also the first for SpaceX as a publicly traded company. Last week's aborted launch attempt sparked a selloff, and shares are still trading below their IPO price.
"To cap off the roaring success of today's flight test, SpaceX [6]shared some stunning visuals of the upper Starship spacecraft sailing through space."
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/24/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-13-launch
[2] https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/22/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-12-version-3-launch
[4] https://x.com/_MaxQ_/status/2080824975447994452
[5] https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/09/science/artemis-3-crew-announcement
[6] https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2080826996490199070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
> During Starship V3's inaugural test, there were [3]numerous engine issues as several on the booster failed to relight and the Starship spacecraft experienced a nail-biting engine outage. SpaceX also was forced to replace six engines on this vehicle ahead of today's flight because of a likely issue with moisture that prevented at least four from starting up correctly during an initial launch attempt last week... [Friday's Super Heavy rocket booster] fired [4]all 33 of its engines in a pristine performance off the launchpad. The rocket booster also managed to relight 13 engines, as planned, to steer itself back toward a controlled landing. Only when Super Heavy attempted to relight its engines for a controlled landing burn over the Gulf waters did problems arise. The landing was still controlled, though Huot said the vehicle was traveling a bit faster than the company had hoped when it made touchdown. (SpaceX always intended to discard this Super Heavy booster in the ocean.)
>
> The Starship spacecraft had no obvious performance issues, making it all the way through its engine burn and managing to reignite one engine mid-flight as part of a test. It also made a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean — executing its "softest splashdown" to date in a "dream scenario," according to SpaceX's Dan Huot. The touchdown came about an hour after takeoff, as planned. During its coasting phase, Starship also deployed 20 Starlink test satellites, paving the way for operational missions later down the line in which SpaceX plans to deploy large batches of these satellites in a single launch. In another big win, SpaceX said it was able to make contact with each of those satellites.
CNN adds that SpaceX "is facing intense pressure to get Starship ready for a [5]crucial NASA test flight next year that could pave the way for the next moon landing. This flight was also the first for SpaceX as a publicly traded company. Last week's aborted launch attempt sparked a selloff, and shares are still trading below their IPO price.
"To cap off the roaring success of today's flight test, SpaceX [6]shared some stunning visuals of the upper Starship spacecraft sailing through space."
[1] https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/24/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-13-launch
[2] https://www.spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13
[3] https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/22/science/live-news/spacex-starship-flight-12-version-3-launch
[4] https://x.com/_MaxQ_/status/2080824975447994452
[5] https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/09/science/artemis-3-crew-announcement
[6] https://x.com/SpaceX/status/2080826996490199070?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Booster issues remain (Score:5, Informative)
> The rocket booster also managed to relight 13 engines, as planned, to steer itself back toward a controlled landing. Only when Super Heavy attempted to relight its engines for a controlled landing burn over the Gulf waters did problems arise. The landing was still controlled, though Huot said the vehicle was traveling a bit faster than the company had hoped when it made touchdown.
This isn't quite right. The 13-engine boost-back burn ended early, contributing to a splashdown about 20km short of the target. So there were problems before the landing burn's partial relight. The booster splashdown was close enough that there was no danger to the public, but it was pretty far from the goal of landing as if to be caught by an imaginary tower at a precise, predetermined ocean location, as some previous boosters have done.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes, the Raptor 3 is turning out to be a challenge. They're making progress on it, and it's important that they do, because those engines are key to the performance and economics of everything SpaceX. But they now have a long record of solving such problems.
Re: Booster issues remain (Score:2)
We don't know if the problem was with Raptor 3 or the tanks in Super Heavy.