Update on Starship/Superheavy flight 13 schedule
Link here. The article has a nice video of the longest static full engine static fire test — 24 seconds — of Superheavy prototype #20, as it is being prepared for the thirteenth orbital test flight.
The key quote in the article however is this:
Ship 40 is still in Mega Bay 2, getting some final touches before getting its payload and rolling out to the launch site. Assuming Ship 40 does not need any further engine testing, it just needs to get its payload and roll out to the launch site. Once there, it will get stacked on Booster 20, where SpaceX will likely perform either a tanking test or a full Wet Dress Rehearsal due to changes to the tank farm.
Once all preflight testing and checkouts are complete, the stack will be ready for launch, which, based on notices from the Federal Aviation Administration, marine safety notices, navigational hazard warnings, and airspace closures, is currently targeted between July 15 and July 21.
The article adds that FAA approvals are still needed, though based on its behavior since Trump took office this should cause no delays.
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I am hoping for materials advancements to help out.
If a space elevator can be had, full Starships can launch and be refueled.
Might empty Starships return via space elevator-eliminating the need for Thermal Protection Systems (TPS)?
Humans launch…empties can return slowly.
Putting tiles on those bloody things has to be the most time-consuming chore.
A space elevator is well beyond our present engineering capability, and will not be possible any time soon. In comparison, improving tile installation is easy, and SpaceX has already made considerable progress, switching from adhesive application to a pin system, optimizing tile shape and arrangement, and experimenting with robotic installation and maintenance. We also do not need space elevators to send up propellant; eventually, we can harvest some of raw materials from the Moon, and the rest from the asteroids.
Reusing a tiled Starship is orders of magnitude easier than attempting to build a space elevator. You’re trading something well-understood and doable for something with numerous unknowns. That is a poor trade.
First things first. Get the beast operational and cut another zero or two off the cost of pounds (or kilograms) to orbit.
I think we will find that economics will drive what comes next. For instance, space to space solar energy transmission may end up being the first economic demo of space solar power, long before electricity is beamed to earth. Likewise, an elevator off the moon should come (if it ever does) a long time before one off earth. Its primary competitor will be Musk’s mass driver. Cheers –
The purpose of SpaceX’s heat shield development is to essentially eliminate replacement work between flights. We can look forward to an AI-driven inspection of the shield that is quick and almost always results in finding that it is defect-free… another manufacturing triumph by SpaceX!
Space elevators are seriously problematic. Among the problems, for an Earth elevator, is the amount of dead, uncontrolled satellites and debris already in Earth orbit. All of it crosses the equatorial path of any elevator, so collisions with any Earth elevator are inevitable.
Elevators at astronomical bodies that do not yet have much debris orbiting them are the best locations.
Per Joey Roulette of Reuters, the FAA closes Starship flight 12 mishap probe, clearing the way for Flight 13 as soon as this week:
https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/faa-closes-starship-review-ahead-spacexs-next-test-flight-this-week-2026-07-13/
Schedule will depend on how happy they are with the full engine test Saturday. If they roll it back, it will be a week or so. If they leave it on the launch mount, it might be days away. I was hoping it was far enough along to try for a launch on the 4th. Happily they chose not to push it. Cheers –
Flight 13 is now scheduled for July 16. Refresh your browsers to see my report.
In the past hearing the Date July 16th would have caused me to double check the company and then the year.
Now I just assume it means this year.
If Starship Flight 13 actually launches on July 16 it will do so on the 57th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch.