Overview
- The FAA closed its investigation on Monday, July 13, and accepted SpaceX’s probable‑cause findings that heat effects on propulsion parts and erroneous engine alarm settings contributed to the May booster failure.
- Flight 13 is targeted no earlier than Thursday, July 16, with a 90‑minute launch window beginning at 6:45 p.m. EDT and final liftoff still subject to pad checks, range clearance and weather.
- SpaceX traced Flight 12’s mishap to a change in the upper‑stage hot‑staging/engine startup sequence that left the Super Heavy booster rotated about 90 degrees and to five of 33 booster engines failing to relight during boostback.
- Engineers have applied focused fixes including a modified Ship engine startup sequence, updated engine alarm and abort logic, hardware upgrades to improve booster relight reliability, and multiple heat‑shield tile and attachment tests.
- Flight 13 will deploy 20 functional Starlink V3 satellites for a suborbital demonstration—six carry cameras to image Starship’s heat shield—these satellites are expected to test deployment and then reenter and burn up about 20 minutes later; key on‑flight goals also include an in‑space Raptor relight and controlled booster splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico.