SpaceX's Starship 13th test launch [EPA]
SpaceX's Starship 13th test launch [EPA]

SpaceX's 13th Starship test flight — the first since the company's initial public offering — ended in mixed results Friday, as the upper stage met its objectives but the first-stage booster failed to relight its engines, reviving concerns about the vehicle's reliability.

SpaceX launched the rocket from its Starbase facility in Texas at 5:50 p.m. Central Time Friday (7:50 a.m. Saturday, Korean Standard Time). It was the second test flight of the V3 Starship equipped with the new Raptor 3 engines, following one in May, and the first to carry functioning satellites as payload.

Booster engine relight fails, vehicle hits water faster than planned

The Super Heavy first-stage booster ran into trouble during its descent toward the Gulf of Mexico after separation. Reuters, citing graphics from the live broadcast, reported that five engines failed to relight, while the Associated Press and Bloomberg also reported that the engines did not relight as needed. According to CNN, all 33 engines ignited normally at launch and 13 relighted as planned during the pre-splashdown phase, but problems emerged just before the booster was set to enter the Gulf.

As a result, the booster hit the sea far faster than intended. SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot acknowledged during the live broadcast that the company "was aiming for a softer splashdown, but it still came in at quite a high speed." SpaceX has noted that it planned all along to sink the booster at sea, but the insufficient deceleration means the test is widely regarded as a partial failure.

The upper stage, by contrast, successfully deployed 20 prototype Starlink V3 satellites at an altitude of 200 kilometers and splashed down safely in the Indian Ocean after roughly an hour of flight. Chief Executive Elon Musk said the mission gathered "all the heat-shield data we needed," but the test left unresolved the key challenge of recovering the booster — the linchpin of full reusability.

The launch drew extra scrutiny as the first Starship test since SpaceX went public last month. Markets were unimpressed. SpaceX shares closed at $115.07 on NASDAQ on Friday, down 2.68 percent — well below the IPO price of $135 and extending a stretch of weakness since the listing.

The path to launch was troubled. An initial attempt scheduled for July 16 was automatically aborted due to engine ignition failures, and a rescheduled attempt on July 23 was pushed back another day by Tropical Storm Bertha before the rocket finally lifted off.

SpaceX has invested more than $15 billion in V3 Starship development, and Musk has said he aims to have a fully reusable rocket ready by year's end. But the booster relight failure on Friday suggests significant technical hurdles remain on the path to full reusability.


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