{"id":46365,"date":"2026-07-16T20:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/post-ignition-anomaly-causes-abort-of-spacexs-starship-flight-13\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T20:39:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:39:19","slug":"post-ignition-anomaly-causes-abort-of-spacexs-starship-flight-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/post-ignition-anomaly-causes-abort-of-spacexs-starship-flight-13\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-ignition anomaly causes abort of SpaceX\u2019s Starship Flight 13"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[CDATA[\n\n<figure id=\"attachment_73921\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73921\" style=\"width: 678px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"--><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_6137-copy.jpg\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73921\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">SpaceX experienced a last-second abort during the launch attempt of Starship Flight 13 on July 16, 2026. On-screen telemetry data showed four engines on the Super Heavy booster didn\u2019t ignite as planned, which SpaceX founder Elon Musk said triggered an abort. Image: SpaceX via livestream<\/figcaption><p><em><strong>Update July 16, 7:10 p.m. EDT (2310 UTC): SpaceX aborted the mission following an apparent engine issue.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>SpaceX will have to wait debut its long-promised Starlink Version 3 satellites after an apparent engine issue forced a last second abort of the suborbital test mission<\/p>\n<p>The Starship Flight 13 mission will be the second launch of a third-generation Starship-Super Heavy launch vehicle and the second mission for the program this year.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX reached ignition of the Super Heavy booster at the Pad 2 at SpaceX\u2019s Starbase facilities in southern Texas at 5:45 p.m. CDT (6:45 p.m. EDT \/ 2245 UTC), but on-screen telemetry data showed four engines that apparently didn\u2019t ignite as anticipated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome of the engines didn\u2019t start, triggering an automatic launch abort,\u201d SpaceX founder Elon Musk wrote on his social media site, X, about 10 minutes after the abort. \u201cNext launch attempt hopefully in a few days.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;width:100%;padding-top:56.25%;overflow:hidden;\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/dZ6-A4iZFWU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>When it flies, SpaceX will launch this mission using Booster 20 and the Ship 40 upper stage. Both stages are flying for the first time and SpaceX will not attempt to recover either for reuse.<\/p>\n<p>One of the biggest differences between Flight 13 and Flight 12, which launched in May, is that this time around, SpaceX will be deploying 20 production Starlink V3 satellites. While they\u2019re not going into orbit, SpaceX does intend to briefly link them to the broader network in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs part of this initial test, Starship is planned to deploy 20 satellites which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers,\u201d SpaceX wrote prior to launch. \u201cThe Starlink satellites will be on the same suborbital trajectory as Starship and are expected to demise upon reentry approximately 20 minutes after deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other mission objectives are fairly similar to what was demonstrated in Flight 12. Those include a relight of a Raptor engine on the upper stage during the coast phase and performing a controlled landing of the booster in the Gulf of Mexico. Neither of those objectives were able to be accomplished back in May.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX said the startup sequence of the engines on Ship 39 \u201ccaused the directional flip of the booster to be off by approximately 90 degrees.\u201d That coupled with issues with five out of 33 sea-level engines on the booster prevented a nominal boostback burn and Booster 19 was lost prematurely.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_73909\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73909\" style=\"width: 678px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260715-Booster-20-top.jpg\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73909\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Super Heavy Booster 20 stands ready to receive the Ship upper stage ahead of the 13th test flight of SpaceX\u2019s Starship vehicle. Image: Adam Bernstein\/Spaceflight Now.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe Super Heavy on this upcoming flight has hardware modifications to improve re-light reliability along with updates to engine alarms and aborts to match the conditions seen in the multi-engine flight environment,\u201d the company wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In between these two flights of Starship Version 3, SpaceX said it also made \u201cseveral hardware an operational modifications\u201d to address issues that caused one of the three Raptor Vacuum engines to go offline less than a minute after stage separation.<\/p>\n<p>SpaceX is also continuing its heat shield iterative work in order to produce a protective system that will eventually allow for rapid reuse of the upper stage.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative;width:100%;padding-top:56.25%;overflow:hidden;\"><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/02S60sM1lw4\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>\u201cMultiple tiles will be attached to the metallic side of Starship\u2019s aft flaps along with modified tiles and attachment mechanisms in the heat shield covering the aft skirt to gather flight data on different attachment options,\u201d SpaceX said. \u201cFinally, Starship\u2019s heat shield will have load sensing tiles to take measurements as the vehicle experiences higher dynamic pressure on ascent than previous flights, putting added stress on the tile attachments in exchange for increased payload to orbit capability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX\u2019s president and chief operating officer, told CNBC in an interview in June that the company may attempt to perform an orbital launch as soon as Flight 14, depending on how this next mission goes. She said a monthly launch cadence is the company\u2019s target.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_73896\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73896\" style=\"width: 678px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"http:\/\/spaceflightnow.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260715_Starship_Orion_docking_rendering-2-copy.jpg\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73896\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s concept of NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft docking in low Earth orbit with SpaceX\u2019s Starship Version 3 rocket with a docking adaptor during the Artemis 3 mission. Rendering: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rapid learning will be critical as NASA is relying on SpaceX to get Starship to orbit sooner rather than later. A modified version of a Starship Version 3 rocket with a docking adaptor is scheduled to fly next years part of the Artemis 3 mission.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike Blue Origin\u2019s Blue Moon Mark 2 Alpha spacecraft, the Artemis 3 crew will not enter into Starship on that flight, but rather NASA and SpaceX will focus on testing the interaction of these two vehicles when they dock.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSoftware testing between spacecrafts will help demonstrate that the commercial human landing system prototypes and Orion can meet at a precise time and location in space,\u201d NASA said in a press release on Wednesday. \u201cWhen Orion docks with the Blue Moon test lander, the Orion spacecraft\u2019s software will control the docked spacecraft. Meanwhile, the SpaceX test article will control the docked spacecraft for the second portion of the mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Flight 13 is also SpaceX\u2019s first mission for the Starship program since it became a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq. The company\u2019s new investors will be keenly watching the performance of the launcher and launch infrastructure as SpaceX hopes to begin deploying orbital payloads later this year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SpaceX experienced a last-second abort during the launch attempt of Starship Flight 13 on July 16, 2026. On-screen telemetry data showed four engines on the Super Heavy booster didn\u2019t ignite as planned, which SpaceX founder Elon Musk said triggered an abort. Image: SpaceX via livestreamUpdate July 16, 7:10 p.m. EDT (2310 UTC): SpaceX aborted the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46365"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}