SpaceX isn’t waiting around. The next big jump is set for July 16. No earlier. Thursday night.
They are targeting a 90-minute launch window starting at 6:45 p.m. EDT. That’s 2245 GMT if you are across the pond. From Starbase in Texas. The livestream kicks off 30 minutes before they actually leave the pad. You can catch it on their page. Or here. Or X. Wherever you watch. It matters little where you stare. It matters that it goes up.
This is Flight 13. Thirteen tests since 2023 began this madness. The thirteenth time we find out what breaks.
The Rollback Ritual
Last Friday they ran a static fire test. The engines screamed. July 10. Then came the retreat. SpaceX lowered Booster 20—Super Heavy—from the stand. Moved it. Back to the hangar.
It feels counterintuitive. Move it forward? No. Move it back to look closer. The booster will roll back to Pad 2 in a day or so. Along with Ship 40. The Starship upper stage for this flight.
They stack the pair up there. Then they test the engines again. At least once more. Before they give it the green light. Still aiming for the July 16 slot. They need the systems to hold up under heat and fire. Just in case.
The vehicle is Version 3. V3. Bigger. Heavier. More powerful.
It is the second launch of this specific config. Similar profile to Flight 12 comes from memory. Less than two months after V3 debuted. The changes are subtle but deep. Structural. Propulsive. Designed to survive the trip. And maybe come back.
Satellite Payoff
Why bother launching this monster? Mostly to drop satellites. Starlink V3 units. An upgraded batch. SpaceX wants these in orbit. Functional. Active. Part of the mesh.
It’s a payload delivery test wrapped in a rocket science experiment. The ship needs to place them. Then keep going. Re-enter. Splash down. Do all that. If the tech works the business model scales.
Desk Toys & Deadlines
Not everyone can stand at the fence in Brownsville. Some of us need scale models.
- A die-cast version of the rocket.
- Alloy steel.
- 13.77 inches tall.
- Weighs 225 grams.
- A 1:375 ratio.
Amazon has them for $39.99. Down from nearly 48. A small piece of the hardware for your desktop. Something to look at while the real thing sits in a hangar cooling off.
Watching the Burn
July 16 arrives soon. The announcement hit X. Direct from the company. No filters.
It is the same story as before but the stakes creep upward. Each flight proves the previous ones weren’t just accidents. Or so we hope. The window opens at 6:45 p.m. You want to be ready. Cameras roll early. Telemetry starts ticking. The world waits for the lift-off command.
Will it go up? Likely.
Will it stay up? That’s the question. The atmosphere hates fast heavy objects. Re-entry burns. The heat shields might sweat. They might sing.
We’ll see.
