Overview
- The Starship stack launched on July 24, with the upper stage deploying 20 next‑generation Starlink V3 satellites and performing a planned in‑space Raptor engine relight before making a soft, intact splashdown in the Indian Ocean.
- The Super Heavy booster failed to relight enough engines for its landing burn and made a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico after reentry, leaving the booster unrecovered.
- Elon Musk said the flight intentionally used higher acceleration to test heat‑shield tiles and that the high‑acceleration tile stress test succeeded, providing new imagery and telemetry on reentry performance.
- SpaceX’s stock fell to new lows after the launch, reflecting investor concern about Starship reliability after the company’s recent IPO and ahead of a large share unlock and quarterly earnings.
- SpaceX is conducting a detailed telemetry review of Flight 13 data and has said it will attempt to ‘catch’ the Ship with the launch‑tower arms on Flight 14 only if the review finds no red flags, a step seen as key to making both stages rapidly reusable and to meeting NASA contract timelines.