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SpaceX to launch Starship Flight 13 with 20 V3 Starlinks

7/14/2026

Summary

SpaceX Launches Starship

SpaceX will launch Starship Flight 13 on July 16, 2026, from Starbase, Texas, after FAA clearance on July 13.
Flight 12 lost a Raptor engine 40 seconds after separation, prompting upgraded re-light hardware for Flight 13.
Flight 13 will carry twenty Starlink V3 satellites, six with cameras, each providing 1 Tbps downlink and 160 Gbps uplink (~60 Tbps total), while Super Heavy attempts a boost burn and splashdown, using its upper stage to relight a Raptor for an Indian Ocean splashdown.

Summary

SpaceX FAA Clearance

The FAA’s closure of its review clears the path for SpaceX’s next Starship test flight, supporting its broader commercial timeline.
SpaceX has invested over $15 billion in Starship development to date.
The Starlink V3 satellite launch schedule has slipped to the end of 2026.
SpaceX plans to field artificial-intelligence-processing satellites and to test new heat-shield materials to improve re-entry survivability, linking network expansion to the reusable Starship system.

Summary

Starship Refueling Challenge

NASA’s Inspector General warned in March 2026 that Starship’s lack of orbital flight, propellant transfer and uncrewed lunar landing threatens the early-2028 Artemis IV crewed landing.
Artemis needs eight to sixteen tanker Starships to refuel a depot before lunar descent, using Flight 13’s Raptor relight as validation.
Former SpaceX VP Hans Koenigsmann called in-orbit refueling “the last big challenge” for Starship to meet NASA’s lunar goals.

History

Historical Context

SpaceX’s 2015 vertical landing of a Falcon 9 first stage at Cape Canaveral proved reusable launch capability, saving roughly $1 billion in refurbishment and feeding NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Building on that milestone, the FAA cleared Starship Flight 13 to test Raptor relight for Artemis IV lunar refueling, showing how early reusability research is driving today’s lunar-landing schedule.

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SpaceX Launches Starship

SpaceX will launch Starship Flight 13 on July 16, 2026, from Starbase, Texas, after FAA clearance on July 13.
Flight 12 lost a Raptor engine 40 seconds after separation, prompting upgraded re-light hardware for Flight 13.
Flight 13 will carry twenty Starlink V3 satellites, six with cameras, each providing 1 Tbps downlink and 160 Gbps uplink (~60 Tbps total), while Super Heavy attempts a boost burn and splashdown, using its upper stage to relight a Raptor for an Indian Ocean splashdown.

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