SpaceX aborts Starship Flight Test 13 after Raptor startup failures

SpaceX aborted Starship Flight Test 13 at the launchpad on July 16 after four Raptor engines failed to start during the final moments before liftoff. Elon Musk said two Raptors will be removed and replaced, putting the next possible launch attempt in “early next week” territory, although SpaceX has not formally announced a new date.

The company ignited the booster’s engines at 2245 UTC, but the vehicle’s automated systems halted the launch before liftoff. Musk said on X that “some of the engines didn’t start,” which triggered the automatic abort. SpaceX has not said what caused the startup failures, whether the fault sits with the engines or ground systems, or whether the vehicle must be de-stacked to complete the replacements.

The scrub gives SpaceX a useful data point on Starship’s abort logic, but it also cuts against the operating model the company is trying to prove. Starship is expected to support NASA’s Artemis Moon program, where repeated launches in close succession are central to the architecture. A pad abort is preferable to losing a vehicle in flight, but quick reuse and quick recovery are part of the product SpaceX has to demonstrate.

Pressure on the V3 configuration

Flight Test 13 is the second test involving Starship’s V3 configuration. Starship has not reached orbit, and a successful test that includes engine reignition in space would likely help SpaceX move past suborbital demonstrations. The company has not disclosed a revised test profile for the next attempt.

The timing is sensitive for NASA. Artemis III is scheduled for next year, and Starship needs to be qualified for orbital operations before it can perform its role in that mission architecture. Artemis IV, planned for 2028, also depends on capabilities that require Starship to launch multiple times within tight operational windows.

NASA is watching the program closely for reasons beyond propulsion milestones. The agency said this week it will use SpaceX’s Starlink network to transmit Artemis III imagery from Orion. That communications role is separate from Starship’s human landing work, but both sit inside NASA’s broader reliance on SpaceX systems for the Artemis campaign.

SpaceX has not given a financial update tied to the abort, and the company did not disclose whether the engine replacements will change its test cadence beyond Musk’s early-next-week estimate. The company also has not said how many engines were evaluated as suspect beyond the two slated for removal.

The next attempt will test more than whether the replacement Raptors light cleanly. SpaceX needs Flight Test 13 to show that the current Starship configuration can complete increasingly orbital-class operations, including an in-space engine restart. Until it does, the gap between Starship’s test record and NASA’s Artemis schedule remains the central issue.

This story draws on original reporting from The Register.