Starship Flight 13: SpaceX Megarocket Makes Softest Splashdown, Deploys Starlink V3 Satellites

SpaceX successfully conducted Starship Flight 13 mission, its 13th suborbital test flight launching from Pad 2 at Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, at 2251 UTC on Friday (July 24). The mission marked the second flight of the upgraded Starship V3 vehicle and achieved several critical milestones, including the first deployment of functional Starlink V3 satellites and a significantly improved re-entry for the upper stage.

The 124-meter Ship-Booster megarocket combo lifted off successfully, with all 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster 20 (B20) igniting at launch. After main engine cutoff (MECO), the vehicles separated via hot-staging. B20 flipped and initiated its boostback burn using 13 engines, to steer back toward the Texas Gulf Coast.

As B20 dropped toward the Gulf, the landing burn system suffered incomplete engine ignition--only eight of the 13 required landing engines fired--causing the booster to enter the water faster than intended with a harder splashdown at about 8 minutes after liftoff, rather than executing a soft splashdown.

"It didn't look like we lit all 13 engines that we were planning for that initial landing burn," SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot said in live commentary. "We were targeting a softer splashdown and, as you saw, it came in with quite a bit of velocity."

Ship 40 (S40) continued into a suborbital trajectory, successfully deploying all 20 Starlink V3 satellites over a 10-minute period starting at about 17 minutes after liftoff.

The V3 satellites extended their solar arrays and antennas, attempting laser communications with the existing constellation. Six satellites carried cameras to photograph the Starship heat shield. Because the trajectory was intentionally suborbital, the satellites reentered the atmosphere 20 minutes after deployment as planned.

Starship is designed to launch 60 Starlink V3 satellites at a time, spitting them out through a slit-like payload bay door like a giant PEZ candy dispenser. All 20 Starlink V3 satellites deployed smoothly, with the last two switching on flashlights and looking back at their Ship carrier before floating off into orbital darkness.

S40 tested its heat shield—including experimental white-painted tiles simulating missing thermal protection. About 39 minutes after liftoff, S40 reignited one of its six Raptor engines to test a critical engine relight capability that will allow future Starships to enter and leave orbit. The burn went off without a hitch.

Then it was time for reentry, with cameras beaming back stunning views of Starship wrapped in super-hot plasma as it fell back to Earth. Reentry telemetry held steady via Starlink internet. The spacecraft executed a three-engine burn, leading into a belly-flop descent, landing flip, and engine reignition for a soft touchdown in the Indian Ocean about 65.5 minutes after liftoff, as it shifted down to two engines, then one engine before it toppled over to rest on the waves.

The sight of a floating Starship triggered a cacophony of cheers from SpaceX teams at Starbase and its Hawthorne, California rocket factory in the company's livestream.

"Starship is intact, floating in the ocean and transmitting telemetry!" SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wrote on X.

"That is a first," Huot added as a drone beamed stunning views of Starship bobbing in the waves. "That is the softest splashdown we have ever had with Starship in the Indian Ocean."

"I'm a little over the moon right now," Huot later added. "Wow. Lucky number 13. Hell of a great day for Starship."

Summarizing the mission on their website, SpaceX writes, "On Friday, July 24, 2026, at 5:51 p.m. CT, Starship lifted off from Starbase, Texas on its thirteenth flight test. This was the second flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles and the first Starship flight to deploy the next generation Starlink V3 satellites.

"The flight test began with Super Heavy igniting all 33 Raptor 3 engines and ascending over the Gulf of America. The successful first-stage ascent was followed by a hot-staging maneuver, with Starship’s upper stage igniting its six Raptor engines to continue its flight to space.

"Following stage separation, the Super Heavy booster performed a directional flip maneuver. The startup sequence was modified for this flight to be more robust to timing variability in engine startup and flip in the desired direction, which is done to increase overall performance. The booster successfully completed the high thrust portion of the boostback burn with all 33 engines, the first time with a Super Heavy V3, before ending the burn early. It attempted to relight its engines for the landing burn, with a subset successfully igniting before experiencing a hard splashdown in the Gulf.

"After completing a full-duration ascent burn on all six Raptor engines, Starship achieved its planned velocity and trajectory. Starship then successfully deployed all 20 Starlink V3 satellites. SpaceX engineers were able to successfully communicate with every satellite using radio frequency and laser links and downloaded key telemetry from the satellites. The Starlink satellites were deployed on the pre-planned trajectory and are expected to have demised upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment.

"The vehicle also reignited a single Raptor engine in an in-space demonstration of a core capability for future orbital missions.

"Starship re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere and was able to gather critical data on the performance of its heatshield before executing a dynamic banking move to mimic the trajectory that future missions returning to Starbase will fly. Starship then guided itself using its four flaps to the pre-planned splashdown zone in the Indian Ocean. After relighting all three Raptor engines, Starship executed a landing flip, landing burn, and soft splashdown, coming to rest intact in the Indian Ocean and providing critical views of an intact heatshield for the first time."

Flight 13 mission advanced SpaceX’s goals for Starlink expansion, as future flights will carry up to 60 Starlink V3 satellites. It also supports NASA’s Artemis III mission, where a modified Starship is scheduled to dock with the Orion spacecraft in Earth orbit in 2027. NASA has also tapped Starship to land its Artemis IV astronauts on the moon in 2028.

"Congrats on getting Flight 13 underway," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote on X after the launch. "Excited for what will be learned from this mission. When Starship comes online, its capabilities will be game-changing, not least of which will be ensuring we never give up the Moon again!" In a lunar coincidence, Friday's launch coincided with the 57th anniversary of the Apollo 11 astronauts' return to Earth after their historic moon landing flight.

The successful heat shield data and satellite deployment provide crucial insights for making Starship reusable and ready for operational missions, potentially including the first launch from Florida later in 2026.

Friday's launch followed a one-day delay caused by Tropical Storm Bertha and a previous abort on July 16, where six engines on the Super Heavy booster failed to ignite due to turbopump issues. SpaceX replaced the affected engines and implemented hardware and software modifications to address failures seen in Flight 12, specifically targeting improved engine relight reliability and boostback burn stability.