SpaceX has moved SpaceX Starship Flight 13 to Thursday afternoon, July 23, after the July 16 launch attempt was aborted just as the first-stage engines started firing up. Michael Wall, Space.com’s Spaceflight and Tech Editor, reported the schedule update and the hardware change ahead of the next attempt.
The shift comes after SpaceX decided to swap out two of Starship’s Raptors before the next Flight 13 launch attempt. Starship’s Super Heavy booster uses 33 next-gen Raptors, and the rocket remains in the development-and-testing phase.
July 16 and July 23
SpaceX attempted the 13th test flight of its Starship megarocket on Thursday afternoon, July 16. The launch was aborted at engine ignition, then the company reset the plan for Thursday afternoon, July 23. That leaves the next attempt tied to a specific launch window rather than an open-ended delay.
For readers tracking the program closely, the practical change is simple: the vehicle is being reworked before another attempt. The move to replace two Raptors shows SpaceX treating the aborted launch as a hardware issue to address before Flight 13 returns to the pad.
Falcon 9 and Starship
The timing also sits beside a separate launch day problem. A Falcon 9 rocket attempted to loft 24 Starlink internet satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on July 20, and that attempt was aborted just as the first-stage engines started firing up. The Vandenberg Starlink launch was then back on the docket for Tuesday morning, July 21, during a nearly four-hour window that opens at 10 a.m. EDT.
That contrast is stark. Falcon 9 is described as the most reliable and active rocket on the planet and had already launched 84 times this year with zero failures, while Starship is still being pushed through test-flight setbacks and hardware changes. Michael Wall’s update places Flight 13 in that gap: a program still being adjusted, even as another SpaceX rocket is back on the schedule after its own abort.
Michael Wall
Wall’s reporting makes the next step clear for anyone following Starship: SpaceX is not waiting for a broad program reset. It has already scheduled another Flight 13 launch attempt for Thursday afternoon, July 23, after swapping out two Raptors and moving past the July 16 abort.
What happens on that day is the immediate test of whether the hardware change clears the same point that stopped the earlier attempt. If it does, Flight 13 moves forward on the revised schedule SpaceX has already put in place.
