Did Starship Flight 13 launch? Not yet — an engine abort and a weather scrub push it to July 24

Did Starship Flight 13 succeed? It hasn’t launched yet.

That is the whole, honest answer as of Thursday, July 23, 2026. Searches spiked this week because of the delay, not a result: SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 has been scrubbed twice and has not left the pad. If you’ve seen a post claiming the ship already deployed a batch of Starlinks or nailed a landing, that is a prediction of the flight plan — not something that happened. This is a developing story, and the sequence below keeps the confirmed events separate from the plan.

What has actually happened: two scrubs

There have been two attempts, and they failed for two different reasons — worth untangling, because some fan accounts have blurred them together.

• July 16, 2026 — engine-ignition abort. The first attempt ended in an automatic abort at about T-0 when, per CNN’s coverage, roughly four of the Super Heavy booster’s 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite. The abort happened before liftoff and the vehicle was safed and detanked. Between attempts, SpaceX replaced and tested engines and ran a static fire that ignited all 33.
• July 23, 2026 — weather scrub. The second attempt was scrubbed for weather. As the Space.com live blog reported, SpaceX wanted clear skies to image the heat shield at high dynamic pressure during ascent, and July 23 visibility over the pad was not suitable.

The July 16 event was about engines; the July 23 event was about clouds. They are not the same scrub, and the abort was not on July 23.

The new target: Friday, July 24

SpaceX is now aiming for Friday, July 24, 2026, with a 90-minute window opening at 5:45 p.m. CDT / 6:45 p.m. EDT / 2245 UTC, flying from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas, according to Spaceflight Now. A target is not a liftoff. Weather and hardware can move it again, so treat July 24 as the plan, not a promise.

The plan — every phase still pending

Here is what SpaceX intends to do once it flies. None of this is a result. The vehicle is Ship 40 stacked on Super Heavy Booster 20 (v3/Block 3 hardware), and the Space.com mission preview lays out the profile: hot-stage separation about two and a half minutes after liftoff; a booster boostback burn to a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico — not a tower catch this time; deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites, six of them said to carry cameras to photograph the ship’s heat-shield tiles; a single-Raptor relight in space; a controlled reentry at high dynamic pressure; and a splashdown in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia about 65 minutes after liftoff.

The timeline below is built in two layers on purpose: the confirmed attempt log, and the planned flight profile with every phase tagged as expected. Use the status filter to see, at a glance, how little of this has actually happened.

Where Flight 13 Actually Stands

Starship Flight 13: the attempt log and the planned flight profile

A two-layer timeline for SpaceX Starship Flight 13 as of July 23, 2026: the confirmed attempt log (July 16 engine-ignition abort, July 23 weather scrub, July 24 target) and the planned flight profile — every planned phase tagged expected because the vehicle has not flown yet.

Allconfirmedexpected

1. July 16, 2026 · Attempt 1 — ABORTED

   Aborted at ~T-0: about 4 of the 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite

   SpaceX's first launch attempt ended in an automatic abort just before liftoff when roughly four of the Super Heavy booster's 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite. The vehicle was safed and detanked. Between attempts, SpaceX replaced and tested engines and ran a static fire that ignited all 33.

   Source ↗

2. July 23, 2026 · Attempt 2 — SCRUBBED (weather)

   Scrubbed by weather — a separate event from the July 16 abort

   The second attempt was scrubbed for weather. SpaceX wanted clear skies to image the heat shield at high dynamic pressure during ascent, and July 23 visibility over the pad was not suitable. This is a distinct event from the July 16 engine-ignition abort, which some sources misdate to July 23.

   Source ↗

3. July 24, 2026 · Attempt 3 — TARGET (not yet flown)· expected

   Next attempt: 90-minute window opens 2245 UTC

   New target: Friday, July 24, 2026 — a 90-minute window opening 5:45 p.m. CDT / 6:45 p.m. EDT / 2245 UTC, from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, Boca Chica, Texas. As of this writing the flight has not launched; a scrub could move it again.

   Source ↗

4. Planned · T-0· expected

   Liftoff — Ship 40 atop Super Heavy Booster 20 (v3/Block 3)

   The planned flight uses Ship 40 stacked on Super Heavy Booster 20, both v3/Block 3 hardware. This is the return-to-flight after Flight 12 and the first operational deployment of V3 Starlinks. Planned, not a result.

   Source ↗

5. Planned · ~T+2.5 min· expected

   Hot-stage separation

   About two and a half minutes after liftoff, the booster and ship are planned to separate via hot-staging. Planned phase — no outcome asserted.

   Source ↗

6. Planned · after separation· expected

   Booster boostback and a Gulf of Mexico splashdown — not a tower catch

   After separation, Super Heavy Booster 20 is planned to perform a boostback burn and a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. There is no tower catch attempt on this flight. Planned phase.

   Source ↗

7. Planned · in-space coast· expected

   Deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites — 6 carry cameras

   The ship is planned to deploy 20 Starlink V3 satellites — the first operational V3 deployment. Six of the 20 are said to carry cameras to image the ship's heat-shield tiles. Planned phase.

   Source ↗

8. Planned · in-space· expected

   Single-Raptor in-space relight

   The ship is planned to perform an in-space relight of a single Raptor engine — a demonstration of on-orbit engine restart. Planned phase, not a result.

   Source ↗

9. Planned · reentry· expected

   Controlled entry at high dynamic pressure

   The ship is planned to make a controlled reentry, with the heat shield stressed at high dynamic pressure — the phase the clear-weather imaging was meant to capture. Planned phase.

   Source ↗

10. Planned · ~T+65 min· expected

    Indian Ocean splashdown off Western Australia

    About 65 minutes after liftoff, the ship is planned to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean off Western Australia. Planned phase — the flight has not flown, so this is a target, not an outcome.

    Source ↗

How this is calculated

A hand-checked chronology compiled from the Space.com live blog and mission preview, Spaceflight Now, CNN, and SpaceNews. Rows in the attempt log are marked confirmed because those events happened on the record. Rows in the planned flight profile are marked expected because they describe a mission that has not flown; no outcome is asserted. Where a phase time is publicly given it is shown as an approximate T-plus figure; where it is not, the phase is described in sequence without a fabricated clock time.

Data as of July 22, 2026 · verified July 22, 2026 · v1

Assumptions, limitations & sources

Assumptions

• · The July 24 target and the entire flight profile are plans, not results — they are marked expected and will change if the attempt scrubs or the vehicle behaves differently.
• · Approximate T-plus times (hot-stage separation, splashdown) are as SpaceX has stated them; other phases are ordered without asserting a precise clock time.

Limitations

• · This is a fast-developing pre-launch story; a scrub, a scrub reason, or a new target date can change within hours.
• · No Flight 13 outcome is reported here because the vehicle has not flown. Any brief claiming a successful deployment or landing is a prediction, not a result.
• · The July 16 event was an engine-ignition abort; the July 23 event was a separate weather scrub. Some fan sources conflate the two — they are kept distinct here.
• · FAA launch-license specifics for Flight 13 are not cleanly sourced and are not asserted.

Sources

• Space.com — Starship Flight 13 launch updates (live blog), July 23, 2026 — Space.com, checked July 22, 2026
• Space.com — Starship Flight 13 mission preview: 20 Starlink V3 satellites — Space.com, checked July 22, 2026
• Spaceflight Now — SpaceX ready for 2nd attempt to launch Starship Flight 13 after post-abort engine work — Spaceflight Now, checked July 22, 2026
• CNN — SpaceX Starship Flight 13 launch (July 16 scrub coverage) — CNN, checked July 22, 2026
• SpaceNews — FAA requires mishap investigation into latest Starship launch (Flight 12) — SpaceNews, checked July 22, 2026

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Why the stakes are higher this time

Flight 13 is a return-to-flight, and it matters where it sits in the sequence. Flight 11 (October 13, 2025) was a full success, with controlled landings of both the booster and the ship. Flight 12 (May 22, 2026) was more mixed: the ship splashed down, but the booster landing failed — several Raptor engines failed shortly after the boostback burn — and the FAA required a mishap investigation. Flight 13 is the first flight after that, and the first operational deployment of V3 Starlink satellites, which raises the stakes on a vehicle that is still proving out its booster recovery.

So where does that leave it

Narrowly, and plainly: Flight 13 has not launched. It aborted on engines on July 16, scrubbed on weather on July 23, and now targets July 24. Everything past liftoff — the Starlink deploy, the relight, the two splashdowns — is a plan, and this story will be updated when the vehicle actually flies.