---
title: 'Starship Flight 13 is Almost Here | Starship Update'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZDuPUR-zoNs'
video_id: 'ZDuPUR-zoNs'
date: 2026-08-05
duration_sec: 1315
---

# Starship Flight 13 is Almost Here | Starship Update

> Source: [Starship Flight 13 is Almost Here | Starship Update](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZDuPUR-zoNs)

## Summary

This video provides a comprehensive update on SpaceX's Starship program, focusing on the upcoming Flight 13. It details the readiness of Booster 20 and Ship 40, the objectives of the mission, and the various technical refinements and hardware changes being implemented. The update also covers progress on future vehicles, launch pad upgrades, and recent testing milestones.

### Key Points

- **Booster 20 Rollout and Static Fire** [00:48] — Booster 20 rolled out to Pad 2 and performed a record-breaking 33-engine static fire lasting over 20 seconds on the first attempt, less than a day after rollout. The booster appeared nearly flight-ready with painted fins and minimal instrumentation.
- **Flight 13 Launch Date and Window** [03:34] — Flight 13 is targeting a no-earlier-than date of Thursday, July 16th, with a 90-minute launch window opening at 5:45 p.m. Central Time.
- **Flight 13 Objectives and Fixes** [03:47] — Flight 13 aims to demonstrate Version 3 vehicle capabilities. Key fixes include addressing the booster flip issue from Flight 12 (off-nominal 90° flip) and improving engine relight reliability.
- **Hot Staging Sequence Change** [04:18] — The hot staging sequence is changed: instead of lighting all three RVacs first, they will light one sea level engine plus two RVacs in the same area to create the required thrust imbalance, then ignite the remaining engines after separation.
- **Boostback Burn Issues** [04:56] — During Flight 12, five of 33 engines had problems relighting during boostback. SpaceX has made vehicle-side hardware upgrades and updated engine alarms and abort criteria to improve reliability.
- **Ship Side Changes and Starlink V3** [05:38] — Ship 40 will carry 20 real Starlink Version 3 satellites for the first time, testing solar panel deployment, ground communications, and laser links. Six satellites have cameras for imaging.
- **Heat Shield Experiments** [06:31] — The ship will carry painted tiles to simulate missing ones, heat shield experiments on the body and flaps, modified aft skirt tiles, and load sensing tiles to gather data.
- **Propellant Loading Sequence** [07:23] — Propellant loading sequence is similar to Flight 12, with liquid oxygen starting around T-37 minutes and liquid methane around T-35 minutes. Total propellant is about 5,000 tons.
- **Flight Timeline Changes** [08:45] — Max Q is planned about 4 seconds earlier than last time. Boostback burn is shorter (38 seconds vs. 1 minute). Ascent burn ends at 8 minutes 5 seconds, 6 seconds earlier than Flight 12.
- **Chopstick Mishap and Repair** [10:04] — During chopstick closing tests, an actuator broke. The team replaced it within 24 hours, delaying Booster 20's rollback by about 1 day.
- **Starship Docu-Series Episode 2** [11:05] — SpaceX released 'Critical Path', a 34-minute documentary providing insights into Flight 12 and previous testing, including details on Booster 19's static fire aborts and recovery efforts.
- **Future Vehicles Progress** [15:05] — Booster 21 is fully stacked for Flight 14, Booster 22 is progressing, Ship 41 completed cryo testing, and Ship 42 received its common dome. New nose cone for Ship 43 spotted with full tile coverage.
- **Raptor Testing Milestones** [17:44] — 13 Raptor tests this week, including a record-breaking 480-second burn on the Raptor 3 north stand, the longest at that stand. Highest serial number Raptor 3 spotted: SN201.
- **Launch Pad Upgrades** [18:59] — Pad 1 is receiving upgrades including a new flame diverter design similar to Pad 2. The ship quick disconnect arm is being refurbished or replaced. Gigabay construction progresses at Starbase and the Cape.

### Conclusion

Flight 13 is imminent, with significant technical refinements and new payloads. The program continues to advance rapidly across all fronts, from vehicle production to launch infrastructure, setting the stage for higher launch cadence and future missions.

## Transcript

days away. SpaceX has now set an official launch date and completed final vehicle testing with booster 20 now back in Mega Bay 1 after its 33 engine static that gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the lead-up to flight 12 along with
and the flight itself. Meanwhile, [music] on Florida's Space Coast, teams are racing to finish the newest Starship launchpad at Space Launch Complex 37 as hopefully in the not-too-distant future. From Florida's Space Coast to here in
up and more on this week's Starship update.
here in Starbase preparing to cover the next flight for y'all. But before we let's take a look at the vehicles assigned for flight 13 and where they stand right now. The star of the week was booster 20 as it rolled out to pad
Even before it left the factory, though, hazard notices began popping up all over social media pointing towards a possible launch this week, which caught many of us off guard. So, all eyes were on the booster to see just how ready it really
was. Normally on previous flights, the booster performs its static fire well ahead of launch. So, it's rarely in flight configuration. But booster 20 rolled out, though, its shines were
was already painted, and it had almost no external instrumentation attached. It the start. We also noticed that several engines on booster 20 were previously
used on booster 19 during its 10-engine test and others during its first full aborted one. As you might remember, SpaceX had to replace and repair multiple engines after hard shutdowns and aborts during those tests. But it
looks like those engines were repaired and cleared for use again, this time on think about it, since Booster 19 had actually borrowed engines from the batch originally assigned for Booster 20. So, with the booster on the pad, SpaceX
with the booster on the pad, SpaceX loaded propellant, and then record-breaking static fire, running for more than 20 seconds on the very first
attempt, less than a day after rolling out to the pad. No spin primes, no igniter tests, just straight into a 33-engine static fire right from the with the fact of how complete the booster looked when it rolled out, the
launch date set this week suddenly seemed not just possible, but probable. SpaceX [snorts] also dropped some killer drone footage from the test. There's a beautiful slow-motion shot from above that displays just how insanely powerful
Super Heavy really is. And, importantly, Pad 2 is capable of allowing the booster to fire at full thrust, unlike Pad 1, where they had to throttle down to avoid also see the booster throttling down
saw with Booster 19. Now, even though Booster 20 showed up almost flight-ready, there's still some work left. For example, we don't yet know if already installed, or if they'll need to remove any other instrumentation on the
see the booster leaving the mount heading back to the production site not long after, but not before a chopstick mishap, but more on that later. So, with Booster 20 now back in Megabay 1, where's Ship 40? Well, we haven't seen
much of it since it rolled back from its own static fire test at Massey's. It should currently be on the front left work stand inside of Megabay 2 receiving final checkouts before heading back to the pad soon for flight. As we hinted at
earlier, Flight 13 is currently targeting a net or no earlier than date of Thursday, July 16th, with a 90-minute launch window opening at 5:45 p.m. Central Time. So, what's Flight 13 all about, exactly? Well, it's largely a
demonstrating the capabilities of the Version 3 vehicles. A lot went well last time, but there are still a few things that need some refinement and attention. During flight 12, the booster flipped the wrong way by about 90°. SpaceX says
the ship's engine startup timing. For flight 13, they are introducing a brand that should make the booster flip much more consistently as desired. This wasn't a huge surprise. The off-nominal flip was pretty obvious, and SpaceX's
own static fire video of ship 40 already showed a much different engine startup Back then, the plan had been to light all three RVacs first, followed by sea level engine one, and then the remaining two engines. But now though, it looks
like they're lighting one sea level engine plus only two RVacs, both in the same area of the vehicle. This should create the required thrust imbalance to Then, as the ship separates, the remaining two sea level engines and the
final RVac will ignite. It sounds like a bit more work for the ship's GNC to account for, but nothing they can't handle. Shortly. However, hot staging wasn't the only issue on flight 12. The boostback burn also failed very early
on. According to SpaceX, five of the 33 engines had problems relighting, which flashes we saw during boostback? Those were Raptors failing to start. Now, SpaceX hasn't actually said if the problem was vehicle related or just bad
but they did say they've made vehicle side hardware upgrades to improve relight reliability and updated the engine alarms and abort criteria to multi-engine flight environment. Over on the ship side, things hadn't gone
perfectly on flight 12 either. The ship lost an RVac during its ascent pretty planned relight test of one of its sea level engines subsequently. SpaceX says this flight, also mentioning additional reliability improvements coming in
future versions of Raptor. The biggest changes on flight 13 will be on the ship side. Last time, ship 39 carried 20 simulators and two modified Starlink V2 mini satellites fitted with cameras and antennas to image the heat shield and
send data back to the ground. This time though, SpaceX is carrying 20 real Starlink version 3 satellites for the first time. These will test solar panel deployment, ground communications, and laser links with the existing Starlink
will follow the exact same suborbital trajectory as ship and burn up on re-entry. Their lives will be short, but the data they collect should be very 3 technology. Which, mind you, can only fly on
Starship. Six of those 20 version 3 satellites are also carrying cameras to system scan from flight 12. SpaceX continues to refine the heat shield and closely assess its performance after each flight. For this mission, the ship
will once again carry painted tiles to simulate missing ones for imaging purposes. It's also flying several heat shield experiments, including tiles body and the flaps. Something we have seen on previous flights plenty before.
The aft skirt will also feature modified tiles and attachment methods to gather data on different designs. They're also flying load sensing tiles to measure suggests Starship will not throttle down
time. You know, it wasn't that long ago that Elon had mentioned skipping the throttle down at max Q entirely to boost performance. So, it's no surprise here even harder. Interestingly though, even with the higher dynamic pressures
involved, the max Q timing doesn't appear any different than on flight 12. flight once all said and done though. Whether that's more accurate timing this published data, we'll find out soon enough. I think that serves as a nice
launch timeline. The propellant loading sequence on flight 13 is not that much different from flight 12, but there are some small differences. For flight 13, bit later than compared to flight 12. Though the sequence itself remains more
or less the same. Booster and ship will receive liquid oxygen first at around the T-37 minute marker, followed by liquid methane around T-35 minutes. From start to finish, propellant for Starship is nearly as short as Falcon 9 now. And
considering there's 5,000 tons of propellant to load in that time, that play here. But it's no surprise that SpaceX is still tweaking these timelines as they optimize operations with their current tank farm and roll out upgrades.
very similar to flight 12. Just like last time, the engines will light simultaneously and reach full power before the rocket commits to flight. The Starship will head southeast over the Gulf. Hopefully, we'll get just as many,
time. And if you'd like any of our prints, head over to shop.nasaspaceflight.com. New launches always bring fresh imagery, replaced soon. So now is your time to get those if you've been eyeing one or
two. And there are some good ones in there, I do have to say, like some very, very good shots that many of us are proud of. Once the rocket clears Max Q, flight is planned about 4 seconds earlier than last time. After hot
hopefully in the right direction this time, and relight all 33 engines right away for its boostback burn, which still like breaks my brain a bit to light all of your engines for boostback compared to 13 as before. That cuz that's just an
direction, but alas. Also interestingly, the boostback burn is much shorter this time around, only 38 seconds in duration compared to a full minute targeted on seen on some earlier flights, but it's
has changed. The landing burn is roughly the same length, just 1 second longer than the plan time last time, and should occur about 6 and 1/2 minutes after liftoff if all goes well. On the ship side, the ascent burn is planned to end
at 8 minutes and 5 seconds, 6 seconds earlier than flight 12's initial target timeline though, between satellite deployment, Raptor relight, reentry, and landing burn stays within about 60 seconds of the previous flight. So,
re-light and the full landing burn profile with all three engines stepping down from two, finally down to one at the end. And of course, a good satellite But, for a flight to actually happen
have to be ready. The launch pad has to cooperate, too. And sometimes they like to cause some problems before lift-off. It's like comedically timed every time. While Booster 20 was still on the mount, SpaceX ran tests of the compression
grid fins. They also practiced closing the chopsticks at catch speed, just like Starbase live mics actually picked up the sounds made from the sticks during this rapid movement, and it's actually pretty wicked. Check this out.
swarming the chopsticks and focusing on one area of the actuators. Sure enough, they had broken one. The team worked all day and replaced the actuator within 24 delay to roll Booster 20 back to Mega
Bay 1 was only about 1 day. Now, what makes this especially funny is that it happened right after SpaceX released their next video in their Starship the week leading up to launch is always full of surprises. And sure enough,
there they were, less than a week from launch, dealing with another pad issue. has released their second Starship docu-series episode. This one titled Critical Path. The video itself is about 34 minutes long. So, don't worry, we're
break it down. But, it does give some fantastic new insights into the work leading up to launch, along with a lot of never-before-seen footage from Flight 12 and previous testing. It went into a lot more detail about what happened
during Booster 19's first two static fire tests. During the 10-engine test, the abort was triggered by the full weight of the rocket on the pad. Tim Sutherlin, explained that they simply hadn't been able to test these
exact conditions before in terms of weight and force with this hardware, which makes sense because there is no real substitute for Starship. I mean, diverter next to him. Like, that's freaking huge. On the first full 33
engine static fire attempt, the earlier abort was caused by extreme vibrations diverter, thus triggering an abort and SpaceX had to rework the simulations so they could monitor the diverter's health
without triggering unnecessary aborts going forward. It also highlighted how much better this new flame diverter is compared to the pretty janky pad one design. That said though, pad one let them move fast and cheap while they
learned to build a proper launch pad. The video also showed different material test plates welded to the actual walls of the flame trench to measure heat and performing. Though, the most humorous was the mentioning of Sharpie marks
still on the flame trench walls. So, there's some Sharpie, so they say. issues. One of the skates in the chopstick carriage system broke. They had to fly in a replacement all the way from the Cape and reinstalled it in
multiple launch pads and so much hardware around, you can do that. The carriage system really drives home how massive the hardware in question here is. And lots of WD-40. The video also gave us a brand new look at the recovery
efforts in the Indian Ocean. SpaceX sends teams out there every flight to recover data on the ship's condition after re-entry. And we got some great new views of the buoys in previous splashdowns. We also finally saw the
system. Former colleague Thomas Burghardt explained the process and what they were testing with the two modified Starlink satellites nicknamed Dodger heaviest payload SpaceX has ever launched, about 37.5 metric tons in
total with each satellite weighing about 1.7 metric tons. Previously, satellites were loaded mostly by hand with lifts. This new speed loader, you know that big Starbase, makes the whole process much faster. Later in the video, SpaceX
first launch attempt with the ship quick disconnect or SQD arm. The arm is designed to press against the ship and create a tight seal. That push also creates an opposing force on the tower. The pin that holds the arm in place is
countdown, so it can swing away at liftoff. On this launch attempt though, force on the tower hydraulics and triggered an abort despite multiple attempts to free the pin. Crews went back up and fixed it by welding a hard
stop bumper onto the arm to limit how much it could push. We also got some fantastic new flight footage. There are great mission control shots that show the human side of the operation, plus an awesome view of liftoff from the ship
retracted. We saw the boost back burn from a new wide angle camera mounted on booster, perfect for checking engine health in flight. There were also some seriously impressive re-entry shots from the booster including the shockwave as
it plowed through the atmosphere at supersonic speeds. Yeah, I forgot about at supersonic speeds. Interestingly though, we didn't get any new views from saw during the broadcast. Maybe the footage either wasn't optimal or they're
saving it for later. But we did get new angles of the ship's flip and landing burn from the buoys and drones including thermal footage. And yes, check out the COPV just torpedoing the buoy here. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near that.
Surprisingly, even after the explosion, large pieces of the ship stayed afloat It's kind of tough to watch sometimes watching hardware like this just blow up, but these ships are giving it their all to collect critical data for the
next versions and the next missions. And speaking of future vehicles, let's go ahead and take a quick look at what's coming once flight 13 is said and done. flight 14. It's already been fully stacked for over 2 weeks now, so we
should see it roll out soon to Megabay 1 for cryo proof testing at Massey's. Even booster 20, that would still put flight 14 in about mid-September. But, if they manage to move a little bit faster, like we know SpaceX can, we might see flight
14 happening as early as next month. We will definitely be keeping a close eye on hardware for that. Booster 22 is also making solid progress. Just this past section for its liquid oxygen tank, bringing it to five barrels tall. If
this pace holds, it might already have its six barrel section by the time some of this progress after booster 20 had rolled to pad two and the door for mega bay one was still open. Next comes the fuel transfer tube, the landing
tanks, the engine section, and then the methane tank welding. Before long, booster 22 should be fully stacked and heading out for cryo proof testing as remember from last week that ship 41 completed its cryogenic testing and
it's been sitting in the left rear work station, most likely waiting for engine campaign. Now, we could compare ship 41's timeline to ship 40, but that might of flights have shown a pattern. On flight 12, the ship was ready first and
had to wait on the booster. For flight 13, ship 40 seems to have also waited engine installed and heading out for static fire testing. That's why ship 39 only took 34 days between crowd testing and static fire testing, while ship 40
took 48 days, a full two weeks longer. Given that trend, ship 41 can move from crowd testing to static fire testing in a month or less, putting it on track for possible flight readiness in August. Meanwhile, ship 42 is making steady
progress. It received its common dome section this week with just three more barrel sections left before it's fully stacked. It's moving at a solid pace. Inside Star Factory's nose cone hall, we can also see what's coming with future
vehicles down the line. This week, a new nose cone with nearly full heat shield tile coverage appeared and it already received its forward aerodynamic flaps. This is almost certainly ship 43, the successor to ship 42. A few notable
things though, this may be the first flight nose cone to be fully tiled using SpaceX's new tile installation station. We've seen what we believe to be test pathfinders and now they're testing the real thing. It also looks like they're
using that brand new purple adhesive material on this vehicle, the same as we saw on the test tiles on ship 49's leeward side. Deeper in the hall, receive the COPVs that go around the header tank assembly. Now, all of these
ships are going to need engines at some point, which means it's time for a McGregor minute. This week saw 13 Raptor tests in total, with eight of them on the older Raptor vertical stand. Most were around the 105 second mark, what we
believe are the standard acceptance tests for flight engines. The most Raptor north stand, a record-breaking 480 second burn, or exactly eight minutes. That is the longest burn ever
witnessed at this stand, beating the previous record of 420 seconds from late May. It's also the second longest Raptor test we've ever seen at McGregor since we started filming back in April of 2022. The only one surpassing it was a
nearly 900 second, or 15 minute test on the old tripod stand with a Raptor 2 engine. Rest in peace, tripod. It is great to see Raptor 3 now getting these long duration burns, too. Maybe we'll eventually see that 15 minute test or
longer to really push Raptor 3 to its ultimate limits. Fingers crossed, cuz that would be epic to see. We also hit another milestone this week, the highest serial number Raptor 3 spotted so far. Raptor SN201
It's wild to think that we're already in the freaking 200s, but that's a really good sign that SpaceX has plenty of these engines in the pipeline for future missions. SpaceX is also hard at work preparing their launch pads and
facilities to support a much higher launch cadence. Pad 1 in particular is diverter design that we see on pad 2. The tower is receiving upgrades, too, of the old ship quick disconnect arm this week. Now, it's still unclear
upgrade the existing arm or move entirely, but they've done the refurb route before. For example, with the LC-39A arm, and it worked out pretty well from what we can tell. That being said though, we have spotted some brand
So, there is a good chance they'll build a brand new one. It is still so strange to see pad one out of commission because that pad has supported the first 11 flights going all the way back to flight one in April of
2023. And then now it's just great progress with the construction of the Gigabay here at Starbase. More additional beams and columns are now in place for the final level. This top
section will form the penthouse portion of the facility and will likely include vehicle production facility right below Florida's Gigabay is a much farther along. Not only is its penthouse level
counterpart, but it's also just gained a brand new bridge crane. This week, SpaceX's Kiko Donchev posted a photo on X showing the 420-ton bridge crane installed at the top of one of the transfer aisles. He confirmed it will be
used to lift and rotate Starships and boosters from horizontal to vertical once they arrive by barge from Starbase. Oh, and by the way, our very own Julia Bergeron spotted the three crane sections arriving at the Cape all the
lots of updates on construction from all around the Cape from Gigabay and recent work at Space Launch Complex 37. So, already. And that's not the only Starship hardware Julia has been
launch mount section was staged just outside of the base ready to be trucked Roberts Road facility where teams are assembling the first launch mount for Space Launch Complex 37. A barge also arrived this week carrying the brand new
Deluge tanks and more launch mount hardware. Across the Banana River, Julia spotted yet another tower module stacked on top of Space Launch Complex 37A's launch tower. That's the fifth one so far. At this rate, the tower should be
need flight vehicles to be there first, though. And hopefully, we aren't too far out from the first being delivered. As you can see, SpaceX is full speed ahead with Starship's progress on all fronts. From future launch pads and gigabases to
the very next Starship launch, hopefully just a few days away now. But, what are flight will go? Full success? More issues on the booster back burn? Ship satellite flights making it where they have to go? Reentry and splashdown?
the comment section down below. As always, you can expect our usual countdown to launch streams in the days leading up to flight, a stakeout stream dedicated live launch coverage. I'm Max Evans from NSF. Thank you so much for
watching, and we will hopefully see you after launch.