SpaceX Launch: What Starship Flight 13 Gets Right and Where It Still Fails

SpaceX Launch: Starship Flight 13 in Context

On July 24, 2026, SpaceX flew the 13th integrated test of its Super Heavy-Starship rocket from Starbase in Texas, the event most people now mean when they search for a "SpaceX launch." It was already a redo: an attempt on July 16 had aborted immediately after ignition when four of the 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster failed to light because of liquid oxygen turbopump problems, SpaceNews reported. SpaceX swapped the engines, tested them on the pad on July 22, and even test-fired one removed engine at its McGregor facility through a full-duration ascent burn before trying again.

What it does well

The upper stage showed clear progress. It lifted 20 of SpaceX's new third-generation Starlink satellites, the payload SpaceX needs to expand and upgrade its internet constellation. TechCrunch noted that the company has said lofting 60 V3 satellites on Starship could deliver a potential twenty-fold increase in downlink capacity versus a single Falcon 9. During this flight, SpaceX communicated with all 20 satellites before they reentered, a milestone for the satellite program. The ship also survived reentry better than earlier prototypes, executing a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean about 65 minutes after liftoff and continuing to return imagery while floating, according to SpaceNews. Scientific American described the flight as a second consecutive mostly successful test, suggesting SpaceX's iterative development is producing steady, if uneven, gains.

Where it falls short

Reusability remains the glaring gap. The Super Heavy booster separated as planned but crashed hard in the Gulf of Mexico when its landing burn did not work as intended. Spaceflight Now reported only 10 of 13 engines restarted and that only five appeared to be running at splashdown; TechCrunch said the booster exploded after a faster-than-expected water impact. Because Starship has not yet reached stable Earth orbit, the 20 deployed V3 Starlinks burned up roughly 20 minutes after deployment, per TechCrunch. That matters economically: TechCrunch cited SpaceX's own S-1 warning that without a fully reusable Starship, Starlink would advance more slowly and at higher cost.

Who it is for

A SpaceX launch today is primarily an engineering test for SpaceX itself, validating Raptor engines, heat shielding, and on-orbit operations before Starship can replace Falcon 9 as the company's workhorse. It is also a risk-laden pathfinder for NASA's Artemis program, which plans to use a lunar-lander variant of Starship for crewed moon missions with a first landing targeted around 2028, according to CBS News and Scientific American. That architecture requires on-orbit propellant transfers and perhaps a dozen or more tanker flights per lunar mission, something the Government Accountability Office flagged as a top program risk and a schedule pressure point. Investors have joined the audience as well: TechCrunch observed that, following SpaceX's June IPO, the stock has fallen sharply from above $200 to $115 and dipped another 2% after the booster failure.

Strengths

• Super Heavy-Starship is already lifting heavier, more capable payloads: 20 V3 Starlinks in a single test flight, signaling capacity well beyond Falcon 9, Scientific American reported.
• Starship's reentry and soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean was the best yet, with the stage floating and returning imagery instead of disintegrating, according to SpaceNews.
• The rapid turnaround from the July 16 abort to a July 24 launch, including engine swaps and a McGregor test fire, shows SpaceX can iterate hardware quickly.

Weaknesses

• The Super Heavy booster has still not achieved a controlled landing; the Flight 13 landing burn failed, ending in a hard splash and explosion, Spaceflight Now and TechCrunch reported.
• Starship has not reached Earth orbit, so deployed satellites cannot stay aloft; the V3 Starlinks reentered about 20 minutes after release, per TechCrunch.
• Government Accountability Office reports say SpaceX is more than a year behind on critical milestones—critical design review, long-duration propellant transfer, and the uncrewed lunar landing—casting doubt on the 2028 human landing timeline noted by CBS News.

Overall, a SpaceX launch right now is a high-stakes hardware experiment whose successes are real but whose gaps in reusability, orbital insertion, and schedule discipline are equally real.