SpaceX schedules the 13th test flight of its Starship megarocket for Thursday, July 23, following a recent launch abort.
SpaceX has rescheduled the 13th test flight of its Starship megarocket to Thursday, July 23, following a launch abort on July 16. The 408-foot-tall vehicle, which is designed for full reusability and future missions to the moon and Mars, will lift off from the Starbase site in South Texas. The previous attempt was aborted just as the 33 first-stage Raptor engines began to fire. To ensure a successful flight, the company will replace two of those engines before the next attempt. This flight will also carry 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites on a suborbital trajectory. While the Starship remains in a development phase, SpaceX also experienced a last-second launch abort on a Falcon 9 rocket earlier this week. The Falcon 9, a more established workhorse, is scheduled to attempt its own Starlink launch on Tuesday morning. These recent events highlight the execution risks associated with SpaceX's ambitious goals as it seeks to maintain its high market valuation.