Overview
- SpaceX halted the Flight 13 countdown at the final ignition step when live telemetry showed four of the Super Heavy booster's 33 Raptor engines did not light, triggering an automatic abort.
- Engineers will remove and replace two Raptor engines and examine launch telemetry to determine what interrupted the startup sequence before attempting another launch.
- SpaceX has set a new target for the next attempt on Monday, July 20, and the company lifted the upper stage off the booster hours after the scrub to begin inspections.
- The abort produced an immediate market reaction with shares sliding and added scrutiny to a program that must prove Starship for large Starlink launches and future NASA missions.
- The automated shutdown kept the vehicle on the pad with no reported damage and follows prior Flight 12 fixes that the FAA reviewed and accepted before clearing further tests.