SpaceX Targets July 16 for Starship Flight 13 Launch from Texas

Usa Today reported that SpaceX is targeting July 16, 2026, for the launch of its Starship rocket from Starbase in Texas. The 90-minute window opens from 6:45 to 8:15 p.m. ET. The test marks the first Starship flight since the company's initial public offering on June 12, which valued SpaceX at $1.75 trillion.

The upcoming flight, referred to as flight 13, follows the May 22 launch of flight 12, the first Starship mission of 2026. During that test the 407-foot-tall Version 3 vehicle lifted off using 33 Raptor engines on the Super Heavy booster and six on the upper stage.

The booster performed a water landing in the Gulf of America while the upper stage reached the Indian Ocean, where it landed and exploded after deploying 20 mock Starlink satellites and two modified satellites that imaged the vehicle.

Flight 13 will carry 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, six of which include cameras to photograph Starship's heat shield. Some tiles on the vehicle have been painted white to simulate missing tiles. The satellites will burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes after deployment.

Neither the booster nor the upper stage will be recovered. The Federal Aviation Administration closed its investigation into the flight 12 mishap with no reports of public injury or damage to public property. The agency accepted SpaceX's findings and corrective actions.

SpaceX is under contract with NASA to develop a Human Landing System version of Starship for the Artemis III mission scheduled for 2027.