SpaceX’s 1st Starship test flight since going public is set to launch
SpaceX’s launch of the world’s most powerful rocket on Thursday will be the aerospace giant’s first test flight since it became a publicly traded company in June.
The flight, which will begin from the company’s Starbase facility in Cameron County, Texas, will be the 13th flight of the Starship program and the second flight of Version 3 of the spacecraft and Super Heavy booster.
The launch window opens at 6:45 PM ET and the company has 90 minutes to get the rocket off the pad. As with all launches, weather concerns or technical issues may delay or postpone the mission.
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A lot depends on the success of SpaceX’s Starship program. NASA wants to use a lunar lander version of the spacecraft to place astronauts on the lunar surface and plans to begin testing it during the Artemis III mission next year. And SpaceX is counting on Starship to quickly build out the Starlink network, develop data centers in space, and eventually take humans to Mars.
Since the company went public, any potential problems with the mission could not only delay the company’s ambitious timeline for Starship, but could also impact its stock price.
Steve Nesius/Reuters – PHOTO: Booster 20 stands on the launch platform at pad 2 as preparations continue for the 13th test flight of the SpaceX Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy v3 booster at Starbase, Texas, on July 15, 2026.
The latest version has been completely redesigned, Starship Director of Engineering Charlie Cox said in a company video released ahead of the 12th flight test of Starship’s development.
“This rocket is unlike anything anyone has ever done before. Version 3 is basically a clean design of the craft. We basically took a bunch of lessons from version one and version two and took a step back and said what were the things that were really problematic in the previous rockets from a performance perspective or a reliability perspective, and then we’re addressing those directly with a variety of new designs,” Cox said.
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Bill Riley, SpaceX’s vice president of Starship Engineering, called Version 3 a “basic design” and explained that it “provides the company with the new capabilities we need to accomplish the missions ahead.” This will be the one to send humans back to the moon. “They will be the ones who put the first boot prints and then the city on Mars.”
Flight test 12 was the first time SpaceX flew new versions of its rocket and spacecraft. Although the company considered this a successful mission, it was not perfect. The Super Heavy booster failed to perform as expected, experiencing thrust problems during recoil combustion, causing a hard splash in the Gulf and triggering an FAA accident investigation. The agency has since closed that investigation and authorized Thursday’s launch after accepting the findings of the SpaceX-led review. The company announced that it implemented corrections after the 12th flight test to avoid the same problems this time.
Gabriel V. Cardenas/Reuters, FILE – PHOTO: The SpaceX building and Starship rocket are shown ahead of SpaceX’s initial public offering (IPO) at Starbase, Texas, on June 11, 2026.
The Starship spacecraft also lost one of its Raptor engines but still reached its planned suborbital orbit. This led to the cancellation of an attempt to relight one of the craft’s engines while in space; This was a key step for Starship to reach orbit and deploy operational Starlink satellites. During this upcoming flight, the company will attempt again to restart the engine as well as deploy 20 functional next-generation Starlink satellites.
Like the last mission, flight test 13 will not attempt to reach orbit, but will remain below orbit as the spacecraft heads from its home in Texas, across the Gulf, across the Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to a splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The booster will splash into the Gulf.
