Flawless launch of Starship test flight #13
July 26, 2026

By Chris Forrester



SpaceX’s giant 122 metres Starship mega-rocket achieved all of its ambitious flight goals on its 13th test mission on June 24th and ended with a flawless and soft water-landing in the Indian Ocean. The rocket’s upper stage floated on the surface of the water, while the booster had earlier made a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico/America.

One problem that did impact the booster’s water-landing was that not all of its Raptor engines were available for use. This echoed problems on a planned launch a week earlier, which was aborted, because some of the Raptor engines did not ignite correctly. On this landing five Raptors were not active.


While in space, Starship deployed 20 Starlink Version 3 satellites, as employees chanted “USA, USA.” The satellites successfully communicated with the broader network and downloaded data, the company said later.

The Starlink Version 3 satellites are a much more powerful version with greater bandwidth and internet speeds. They briefly connected with SpaceX’s existing network of some 10,000 orbiting satellites. Then, as planned, they followed the ⁠ship’s suborbital trajectory into Earth’s atmosphere and burned up.

“This is the softest splashdown we have ever had with the Starship there in the Indian Ocean,” Dan Huot, communications manager at SpaceX, said on a livestream.

Starship Flight 13 mission goals:

• Deploy 20 next-generation Starlink V3 satellites for the first time

• Test Starlink V3 solar arrays, antennas, and laser communications in space

• Execute launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn, and offshore landing burn for Super Heavy

• Test Super Heavy hardware and software upgrades to improve engine re-light reliability

• Perform an in-space Raptor engine re-light

• Demonstrate Starship propulsion system upgrades to improve engine reliability

• Conduct a controlled reentry, descent, and splashdown in the Indian Ocean

• Use six Starlink V3 satellites to image Starship’s heat shield during flight

• Evaluate upgraded heat shield tiles, attachment methods, and load-sensing tiles for future reusability