Starship | Flight 13

13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink satellites to space, which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. 6 of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.

This mission is flown by SpaceX. It is classified as a test flight mission. Liftoff is planned from Orbital Launch Pad 2. Launch windows shift often; this page is rebuilt every day with the latest scheduled time.

Starship | Flight 13 is scheduled to lift off on Thursday, July 16, 2026 at 22:45 UTC. The countdown above updates live, so you always see exactly how many days, hours, and minutes are left.