Starship Deploys Working Satellites on Its 13th Test Flight

SpaceX's Starship released 20 functioning Starlink satellites for the first time, though the booster hit the sea hard.

SpaceX launched Starship on its 13th suborbital test flight on July 24 from Starbase, Texas, at 6:51 p.m. Eastern, a day later than planned because clouds would have blocked imaging. It was the second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, the upper stage deployed 20 functioning Starlink V3 satellites, which were tested for about 20 minutes, including solar array and antenna deployment and communications checks, before reentry.

The flight was not clean throughout. The Super Heavy booster aimed for a soft splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, but not all Raptor engines started for the landing burn, causing a higher-speed impact. The upper stage performed a roughly 14-second Raptor relight and splashed down intact in the Indian Ocean about 65.5 minutes after liftoff. An earlier attempt on July 16 was aborted after ignition when four of 33 booster engines failed to start, which SpaceX blamed on moisture that froze in the turbopumps.

Deploying real payloads matters because it moves Starship from proving it can fly to proving it can do a job. A fully reusable heavy-lift vehicle is the lever that could drop the cost of reaching orbit, which touches both satellite connectivity and broader access to space.

What to watch: SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said in June that Flight 14 might attempt the first orbital mission and Flight 15 the first Florida launch. Those are conditional statements from an interview, and SpaceX did not immediately confirm firm plans.

Source: SpaceNews