SpaceX Starship Flight 13 launch updates: Starship undergoing preparations to launch tomorrow

SpaceX readying Starship to launch in just over 24 hours

Starship’s next big test launch is just a day away.

SpaceX has transported Booster 20, the Super Heavy first stage for the massive launch vehicle, back to pad 2 at the company’s Starbase facility in Texas. If all goes according to plan, that will be its last relocation before launch, currently scheduled for tomorrow (July 15) during a 90-minute launch window beginning at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

Ship 40, Starship’s upper stage for Flight 13, will be trasnported to the pad today, and stacked on Super Heavy for a full wet dress rehearsal to confirm the vehicle’s readiness ahead of tomorrow’s launch attempt.

What time is SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 launch on July 16? (Full mission timeline)

Josh Dinner

Super Heavy booster moved back to hangar

Following a static fire engine test last Friday (July 10), SpaceX has lowered the Flight 13 Super Heavy, Booster 20, from the launch stand and transported the stage back to its hangar at the company’s Starbase, Texas, facility.

The booster will roll back to the pad in the next day or so, along with Ship 40, the Flight 13 Starship upper stage. The pair will be stacked a Starbase’s pad 2, where it’s expected the rocket will undergo at least one additional engine test prior to launch.

SpaceX is still targeting July 16 for liftoff of Starship’s 13th test flight, scheduled to get off the ground during a 90-minute window that opens at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT).

Read how this launch will deploy SpaceX’s first batch up upgraded Starlink Version 3 satellites into space.

How to watch SpaceX launch Starship Flight 13 on July 16

SpaceX targeting July 16 for Starship Flight 13

The next Starship launch has arrived!

SpaceX is targeting no earlier than July 16 for the next launch of its massive Starship rocket, the company announced on in a post on X. Flight 13 will be the second launch of the vehicle’s Version 3 configuration and will be similar in profile to Flight 12. It will be the second launch for Starship “Version 3” (V3), a bigger, more powerful upgrade from previous Starship designs, and will come a little less than two months after V3’s debut.

A 90-minute launch window will begin on Thursday at 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT). A livestream of the mission will begin about 30 minutes prior to liftoff and stream on the company’s mission page, profile on X and here on Space.com.

Full story: SpaceX targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13, reveals what went wrong on previous launch

Josh Dinner