SpaceX & Musk Announced New Launch Date for Starship Flight 13, Delay Until…! Big Fixes Rushing

Mixed feelings everyone. The good news is that Flight 13 finally has a new launch date. The bad news, the delay is longer than many expected and there's still no guarantee the new schedule will hold. So let's take a closer look at what's happening. Then we'll cover India's first privately developed orbital rocket launch, a milestone that could reshape the country's commercial space industry. And finally, we'll talk about Jared Isaacman attending a Russian Soyuz launch in person and why that visit may be more significant than it first appears. Let's dive into all of it on today's episode of Great SpaceX. We were all expecting to watch Starship lift off on July 16th. Instead, the countdown reached T minus zero before the automatic launch abort brought everything to a halt. Ever since then, the biggest question has been simple. When will Flight 13 finally fly? As always, Starship never stays quiet for long. New developments seem to arrive almost every day and we'll continue covering them as they happen. So if you haven't subscribed yet, now is the perfect time to join our community and stay up to date with everything happening at SpaceX and across the aerospace industry. Now back to the big question. When is Flight 13 launching? Immediately after the scrub, S40 and B20 were destacked and transported back to the production site for inspection. Not long afterwards, SpaceX posted on X that the next launch attempt was targeting Monday, July 20th. At first, that sounded incredibly ambitious. To make that schedule work, both stages would have needed to return to the launch pad by Sunday. Considering the engine issue that caused the abort, many people questioned whether that timeline was even realistic. As it turns out, it wasn't. SpaceX has now revised the schedule. Both its website and official X account now list Thursday, July 23rd as the next planned launch date. Musk also confirmed the date. Interestingly, his first repost accidentally mentioned Friday instead of Thursday. Maybe he was still recovering from the excitement of that dramatic World Cup final. Fortunately, he quickly corrected himself, posting, I mean Thursday. Duh. The additional delay gives engineers roughly three extra days to complete repairs and verify the vehicle before another countdown begins. That's important because this clearly isn't just a matter of swapping out two engines. The booster experienced a fairly unusual failure. Despite completing one of the longest static fire tests ever performed on a Super Heavy booster, four of its 33 Raptor engines failed to ignite during the actual launch attempt. Even more interesting, those engines were clustered together in the middle ring as two neighboring pairs. If SpaceX had somehow continued with the launch, losing that much thrust on one side could have introduced serious control problems almost immediately after liftoff. Naturally, engineers want to understand exactly why those engines failed altogether. One possible area of investigation is the ignition system itself. Another is the plumbing that distributes propellant from the main feed lines to the individual engines. Because the failures appeared in groups rather than randomly across the booster, many observers believe the issue may involve hardware shared between those engines instead of four completely independent failures. Musk has confirmed that two Raptors will be replaced. However, replacing engines is only part of the process. The new engines must also be thoroughly inspected before installation. Once installed, they need to be verified alongside every remaining engine on the booster. That includes the two neighboring Raptors that experienced ignition issues but may not actually be replaced. Those engines will almost certainly receive especially careful attention before Flight 13 is cleared to fly. S-40 is also undergoing inspections. Although the scrub originated on the booster, SpaceX still needs complete confidence in the ship before launch. After all, this mission will deploy real Starlink satellites before attempting an engine relight. Reliable engine performance throughout the entire mission is absolutely critical. Nobody wants a repeat of Flight 12's vacuum Raptor issue. If everything proceeds smoothly, both stages will eventually return to the launch pad. Assuming the July 23rd target remains unchanged, we could see S-40 and B-20 roll back sometime around July 22nd. But here's the important part. Even though July 23rd is now the official target, it shouldn't be considered guaranteed. There are still two major variables. The first is the repair itself. If engineers discover additional hardware requiring replacement or further testing, SpaceX could easily choose to delay the launch again. The company has repeatedly shown it's willing to wait if doing so increases the chances of a successful mission. The second variable is the weather. Rocket launches are never determined by engineering alone. Mother Nature always gets a vote. Current forecasts show a weather system moving across the gulf toward Texas around the same time as the planned launch. Even if the center of the storm stays well away from starbase, associated clouds, rain, winds, or reduced visibility could still violate launch criteria. That's why it's worth keeping an eye on updates over the next few days. Things can change very quickly. Hopefully the repairs go smoothly, the weather cooperates, and flight 13 finally gets its chance to fly. If you're hoping for that outcome too, reply with let it go in the comment section down below. Now let's move on to another Starship update. While flight 13 remains grounded, preparations for flight 14 continue moving ahead. On the morning of July 17th, SpaceX rolled B-21 to Massey's for testing. Shortly after arriving, the booster began structural verification work. During the first day, observers noticed venting from both the tank farm and the liquid methane systems, indicating propellant loading operations were underway. These early tests are designed to verify the integrity of the tanks and plumbing before full cryogenic testing begins. The first cryogenic test attempt took place on the 18th. However, only a relatively small amount of propellant appeared to be loaded before the vehicle was detanked. That suggests engineers may have been evaluating specific systems rather than attempting a full cryogenic test. A second attempt followed the next day on the 19th. This time, more propellant appeared to be loaded, although the booster still never reached the fully frosted appearance typically seen during complete cryogenic tests. Whether additional testing is planned remains unclear. At the same time, Megabay 1 remains extremely busy, meaning SpaceX likely want to move B-21 through Massey's as efficiently as possible. Overall, flight 14 hardware continues making encouraging progress. If testing proceeds smoothly, the booster could remain on track for an August launch, helping SpaceX move toward the monthly launch cadence Gwynne Shotwell recently discussed. Now let's shift our attention to another milestone. India has officially joined an exclusive club. Sky Route Aerospace successfully launched its Vikram 1 rocket into low earth orbit on July 18th from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. The mission lifted off at 2.35 AM Eastern or 12.05 PM local time in India. Everything went according to plan. The rocket followed its intended trajectory and successfully deployed its payloads about 17 minutes after launch. With that achievement, India became only the third nation to demonstrate privately developed orbital launch capability, joining the United States and China. Mission controllers describe the achievement as the dawn of a new space era. Sky Route Aerospace, founded in Hyderabad in 2018, has been working toward this milestone for years. The company first made history in 2022 when Vikram-S became the first privately developed Indian rocket to reach space on a suborbital flight. Now, Vikram-1 represents the next major step. Standing about 7 stories tall, the four-stage launcher is designed to carry up to 350 kilograms into low earth orbit. Although this mission primarily served as a demonstration of the rocket itself, it also carried several commercial payloads. Among them were a technology demonstration from Germany's D-Cubed, the Solaris S3 nanosatellite from Indian startup Graha Space, and Embrace, a robotic arm developed by Cosmoserve Space to help capture orbital debris. Sky Route also launched its own Scope satellite to collect flight performance data. And because every rocket deserves a little personality, the mission even carried a miniature 18-carat gold rocket created by artist Ajay Kumar Madhavada, along with Cosmic Bloom, a symbolic payload produced by Cosmos Diamonds. It's a fun reminder that space missions aren't always about just engineering. Overall, the successful launch marks an important turning point for India's commercial space industry. With private launch capability now demonstrated, India is becoming an increasingly important player alongside established space powers. It'll be exciting to see what Sky Route accomplishes next. Finally, let's talk about a mission that attracted attention for reasons beyond the launch itself. On the 14th of this month, Russia successfully launched the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft aboard a Soyuz 2.1a rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. About three hours later, the spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station's Prakal module. The mission carried Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kakina, along with NASA astronaut Anil Menon. Normally, a routine crew rotation doesn't generate major headlines. This one was different. Among those watching in person was NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. That alone made the launch historically significant. It marked the first time since October 2018 that a sitting NASA Administrator attended a Russian crewed launch. Isaacman had actually mentioned plans for the visit months earlier during the Crew-12 press conference. His attendance also carried a personal connection. NASA astronaut Anil Menon is married to Anna Menon, who flew on the Polaris Dawn mission commanded by Isaacman. Beyond that personal connection, the visit appears to reflect something much larger. Despite ongoing political tensions between the United States and Russia, cooperation aboard the ISS continues. According to earlier statements, Isaacman hoped to meet Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Bakunov during the trip. According to Bakunov, Roscosmos now plans to support ISS operations through 2030, extending its previous commitment through 2028. He also said NASA and Roscosmos had agreed in principle to continue exchanging seats between Soyuz and Commercial Crew spacecraft. That arrangement ensures both American and Russian crew members remain aboard the station, providing operational continuity if either transportation system experiences unexpected issues. Personally, I think cooperation like this is incredibly important. Space exploration has always been at its best when nations work together. The ISS remains one of humanity's greatest engineering achievements precisely because it brings different countries together around a common goal. As space enthusiasts, hopefully that spirit of cooperation continues well beyond the station's retirement later this decade. Do you agree? In any case, that brings us to the end of today's episode. Thank you so much for tuning in. As always, this has been Kevin from GreatSpaceX and until next time, keep looking up!