SpaceX aborts 13th Starship test flight at last second after Super Heavy engines fail to ignite
An automatic safety system halted the countdown when several Super Heavy engines failed to ignite. Elon Musk said the next attempt would come in a few days.
SpaceX aborted the 13th test flight of its giant Starship rocket at the very last moment on Thursday, July 16, as the Super Heavy booster was beginning its ignition sequence at the company's Starbase facility in Texas. An automatic safety system halted the countdown when several engines failed to ignite. Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, wrote on X that propellant was being offloaded and that the next launch attempt would likely occur within a few days.
Some of the engines did not ignite, triggering an automatic launch abort. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days.
The scrub was the first Starship launch attempt since SpaceX completed a record initial public offering on Wall Street in June, which made it one of the most valuable aerospace companies. The Starship system, comprising the Super Heavy booster and the Starship upper stage, stands 124 meters tall and is the largest rocket ever built.
Mission objectives
When the rocket flies, the mission profile will closely follow the May 2026 test that debuted the third-generation Starship. The upper stage is scheduled to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites, the newest version of the company's broadband spacecraft. Engineers also plan to relight a Raptor engine in orbit, a maneuver essential for future deep-space missions that require multiple engine burns. The flight will also test several upgrades to the vehicle's thermal protection system, which is designed to shield the spacecraft during the intense heat of atmospheric reentry. The full sequence aims to demonstrate liftoff, ascent, stage separation, booster return and a controlled ocean landing.
Previous flight and fixes
The May flight was considered largely successful, but it was not flawless. That flight successfully demonstrated the new design's performance in real conditions, but several engines on the Super Heavy booster malfunctioned, preventing a controlled return. The booster, which is designed to perform a precision landing back at the launch site or on a droneship, instead crashed into the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX stated that it has since implemented multiple hardware and software modifications to correct the problems seen on that flight. The company did not detail the specific changes but said they address the issues identified during the post-flight review.
- Starship completes its 12th test flight, debuting the third-generation vehicle. The mission is largely successful but the Super Heavy booster crashes into the Gulf of Mexico after engine failures.
- SpaceX aborts the 13th Starship launch attempt at the last moment after several engines fail to ignite during the ignition sequence.
- Elon Musk says the next launch attempt will occur in a few days, once the engine issue is addressed.
SpaceX's expanding ambitions
SpaceX's rapid growth has been fueled by its Starlink internet service, which now provides high-speed connectivity to millions of users worldwide. The company has publicly discussed plans to develop space-based data centers for artificial intelligence workloads, a concept that would leverage Starship's heavy-lift capability. The Starship program is also critical to NASA's Artemis lunar exploration plans; the agency has contracted SpaceX to build a modified Starship that will serve as a human landing system for missions to the Moon's surface. The lunar lander variant is a key element of NASA's strategy to return astronauts to the Moon.
