SpaceX is targeting no earlier than Thursday for the next test launch of its Starship rocket, the 13th flight of the vehicle since testing began in 2023 and the second launch of its upgraded Version 3 configuration.
Liftoff is scheduled for 6:45 p.m. EDT (2245 GMT) from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at SpaceX’s Starbase facility near Brownsville, Texas, with a launch window extending to 00:15 GMT. The mission will pair Booster 20, the flight’s Super Heavy first stage, with Ship 40, the Starship upper stage, standing a combined 124.4 metres tall with a diameter of 9 metres. Standing at full height, Starship remains the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, with a stated payload capacity of up to 100,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.
The booster completed a static-fire engine test last Friday before being lowered from the launch stand and returned to its hangar, standard pre-launch procedure that precedes final stacking at the pad. SpaceX said the vehicle was expected to undergo at least one additional engine test before Thursday’s attempt.
The booster’s primary test objectives for Flight 13 include a successful ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and a landing burn targeting an offshore landing point in the Gulf, according to flight tracking data. SpaceX has not detailed the mission’s full test objectives for the Starship upper stage.
Flight 13 follows the debut of Starship’s Version 3 configuration, an upgraded iteration of the vehicle SpaceX has continued to revise following a series of test flights that included both successful demonstrations and in-flight failures earlier in the program. SpaceX has said the Version 3 upgrades are intended to move the vehicle closer to the reliability needed for its role in NASA’s Artemis program, under which a variant of Starship is contracted to land astronauts on the moon.
As with previous Starship tests, SpaceX has cautioned that launch timing remains subject to change based on weather, technical readiness and range availability. The company plans to broadcast the launch on its own channels, with independent coverage also expected from spaceflight tracking outlets.
