Starship Flight 13 abort: 2 Raptors to be swapped; next try early next week

SpaceX stood down from Starship Flight 13 on Thursday evening after the stack reached the pad sequence and then aborted before liftoff. There was no flight. Propellant offload started after the abort.

Earlier in the window SpaceX said the team was GO for propellant load with systems and weather looking good. Near the end of the count the company held at T-60 for final checks and still described systems as looking good. Minutes later SpaceX posted a short stand-down: "Standing down from today's flight test attempt."

Elon Musk filled in the abort path first: "Some of the engines didn't start, triggering an automatic launch abort. Now offloading propellant. Next launch attempt hopefully in a few days."

A follow-up a little over an hour later tightened the recovery plan: "To be confident of a good flight, 2 Raptors will be removed & replaced. Most probable launch timing is early next week."

That is an automatic safe abort around engine start, not a weather or range scrub. Musk said "some" engines did not start on the first note, then specified a two-Raptor swap before the next attempt. SpaceX has not published a formal mishap card for this attempt as of this desk note.

Flight 13 was the second Version 3 stack flight and the first try at deploying Starlink V3 hardware on a suborbital Starship profile (Booster 20 and Ship 40, both first flights, no recovery planned). Those objectives remain open until a successful attempt.

Confirmed from primary posts:

• SpaceX: stand-down from today's flight test attempt (X)
• SpaceX earlier: GO for propellant load (X); T-60 hold for final checks (X)
• Elon: engines did not start, automatic abort; offloading propellant; next attempt hoped for in a few days (X)
• Elon follow-up: 2 Raptors removed and replaced for confidence; most probable timing early next week (X)
• No liftoff; vehicle stayed on the pad path through abort and offload language

Not confirmed:

• Exact number of engines that failed to light beyond "some" on the first note
• Root cause beyond non-start / automatic abort
• A hard NET or T-0 on the mission page (Musk: early next week most probable)
• Which positions on the booster or ship the two Raptors come from

Mission page for reference: spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13. Beam42 will update when SpaceX posts a firm next opportunity.