The story of SpaceX’s 13th attempt at Starship’s test flight became even more interesting when, at T-0 seconds, all 33 Raptor engines shut down unexpectedly at liftoff.
The world was expecting another epic launch of the world’s largest rocket and spacecraft, SpaceX’s Starship, which is currently in the development testing phase.
As soon as the excitement faded, curiosity took its place. Everyone had one question in mind: “What triggered a failed liftoff?”
SpaceX hadn’t experienced a similar anomaly since the Flight 01 launch test. Even on its first attempt, the Starship took off from the launch pad successfully, but it ended in a rapid unscheduled disassembly (RUD).
In the last three years, since Flight 01, SpaceX has made thousands of improvements to the entire ecosystem of Starship. From the launch pads to the booster, Raptor engines, and the upper stage Starship spacecraft have gone through constant upgrades and improvements.
The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, shared the reason for the abort of the first attempt at Flight 13 last Thursday (July 16). In short, a safety system triggered a complete engine shutdown of all the engines because some of the engines hadn’t ignited at liftoff.
On Friday, Musk gave a tentative schedule of the 2nd attempt at Starship Flight 13 launch and landing test in a post on X. He wrote:
To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week.
Elon Musk’s post also clarifies the situation further. It’s now confirmed that two Raptor engines installed under the Super Heavy Booster 20 Starship rocket malfunctioned.
Just days before the first attempt at Flight 13, Booster 20 went through a 33-engine static fire test, and all of the engines fired successfully. Historically, the engines should be ready after a successful static fire test, but this time, this method did not prove to be 100% fail-proof.
Starship Flight 13: 2nd Attempt Launch Schedule
A few hours ago, as of this writing, SpaceX announced the next flight window for Starship’s 13th integrated flight test (IFT-13).
Elon Musk’s space company is going to attempt the Starship Flight 13 launch and landing test for the 2nd time on Thursday, July 23.
The timing of the launch is the same as last Thursday. The launch window will open at 5:45 PM Central Time / 6:45 PM Eastern Time.
SpaceX’s official updates page for Flight 13 states the following:
The thirteenth flight test of Starship is preparing to launch as early as Thursday, July 23. The 90-minute launch window will open at 5:45 p.m. CT.
A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, which you can watch here and on X @SpaceX. As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to check in here and stay tuned to our X account for updates.
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