Starship Flight 13 deploys 20 Starlink V3 sats

SpaceX closed Starship Flight 13 on Friday, July 24, 2026. The stack lifted from Starbase at 5:51 p.m. CT. That is the second flight of the Starship and Super Heavy V3 vehicles, and the first Starship flight to deploy next-generation Starlink V3 satellites, per the company mission page (SpaceX Flight 13 page).

SpaceX said deployment of 20 Starlink V3 satellites was complete (SpaceX deploy post). A follow-up said the Starlink team made contact with all 20 V3 satellites (SpaceX contact post). The mission write-up states engineers communicated with every satellite over radio frequency and laser links and downloaded key telemetry. Those sats flew the same pre-planned suborbital path as Ship and were expected to demise about 20 minutes after deploy. This was a short-lived hardware test, not a long-lived constellation add.

Elon Musk quote-posted the deploy note the same evening: "Starlink V3 satellites deployed to test how they operate in space" (Elon deploy quote-post). Starlink's account framed the same batch as a test-and-learn step before later orbital constellation launches (Starlink V3 test note).

Ship also ignited one Raptor in space, a maneuver SpaceX says future orbital missions will need (SpaceX Raptor relight post). On the way home, SpaceX said Starship flew a banking maneuver meant to mimic a future Starbase catch approach, then soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The company closed the evening with "Splashdown confirmed" on the thirteenth flight test (SpaceX splashdown post). The mission page says Ship came to rest intact and delivered critical views of an intact heatshield for the first time.

The booster path was less clean. Per the mission page, Super Heavy completed the high-thrust portion of boostback with all 33 engines for the first time on a Super Heavy V3, ended that burn early, lit only a subset of engines for the landing burn, and took a hard splashdown in the Gulf. That is still a flown test result, not another pad abort like the July 16 stand-down.

Flight 13 therefore stacks first working V3 deploy and contact, Super Heavy V3's first full 33-engine high-thrust boostback stretch, in-space relight, and an intact ship splashdown with first-time critical views of an intact heatshield. What remains open is booster landing energetics, heatshield durability over more flights, and when V3 sats ride a trajectory that keeps them in constellation rather than a short test demise.

Confirmed

• Liftoff July 24, 2026, 5:51 p.m. CT from Starbase; second Starship and Super Heavy V3 flight; first Starship flight to deploy Starlink V3 (SpaceX Flight 13 page)
• All 20 Starlink V3 satellites deployed (SpaceX deploy post)
• Contact with all 20; RF and laser links; telemetry downloaded; suborbital path with expected demise ~20 minutes after deploy (mission page + SpaceX contact post)
• Single Raptor in-space relight (SpaceX Raptor relight post)
• Banking maneuver for future catch approach; soft splashdown intact in the Indian Ocean; critical intact heatshield views (SpaceX splashdown post; mission page)
• Elon: V3 sats deployed to test in-space operation (Elon deploy quote-post)
• Starlink: V3 deploy helps test and learn ahead of next-generation constellation launches to orbit (Starlink V3 test note)
• Booster: 33-engine high-thrust boostback on Super Heavy V3; burn ended early; landing-burn subset light; hard Gulf splashdown (mission page)

Not confirmed

• Long-lived orbital insertion of these 20 V3 sats (mission page: short-lived suborbital test path)
• Tower catch on this flight (banking was a mimic for a future return)
• Booster soft landing or reuse from Flight 13
• Next stack NET, Flight 14 date, or how many V3 sats ride the first long-lived Starship deployment
• Full post-flight anomaly table beyond the mission summary

What to watch

• SpaceX post-flight notes on booster landing burn and heatshield
• Next Starship window that keeps Starlink V3 on a constellation trajectory
• Follow-on V3 capacity claims tied to measured link data from longer-lived sats

Primary posts: SpaceX splashdown close, SpaceX deploy, SpaceX contact, SpaceX Raptor relight, Elon deploy quote-post, Starlink test note. Mission page: spacex.com/launches/starship-flight-13.