Starship | Flight 13
13th test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle. Second flight of Starship V3. For the first time, Starship will carry 20 V3 Starlink satellites to space, which will extend solar arrays and antennas and will attempt to connect with ground stations in South Africa and the larger Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers. 6 of the satellites have been modified with a suite of cameras to scan Starship’s heat shield and transmit imagery down to operators to continue testing methods of analyzing Starship’s heat shield readiness for return to launch site on future missions. Several tiles on Starship have been painted white to simulate missing tiles and serve as imaging targets in the test.
The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).
Coverage
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SpaceX's Starship Flight 13 launched from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at Starbase, TX, completing the 13th test flight of the two-stage vehicle and the second flight…
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Despite recent successes, rapid reuse of Starship remains a tough nut to crack
Starship Flight 13, the second flight of Starship V3, launched successfully from Orbital Launch Pad 2 at SpaceX Starbase, TX. The mission carried 20 V3…