SpaceX Prepares Starship 13th Test Flight with Operational Starlink V3 Payload

Starship 13th test flight: launch window set for Thursday

The next full‑scale flight of SpaceX’s Starship and its Super Heavy booster is slated to lift off as early as 5:45 pm CDT (22:45 UTC) on Thursday, marking the 13th test flight of the vehicle. Unlike the May trial, this mission will carry ↑ 20 operational Starlink V3 broadband satellites packed into the cargo bay.

Engineers have rigged a deployer – a lattice of pulleys and cables – to eject each satellite sequentially through a side hatch. The payload will not join the commercial constellation, but crews intend to fire brief laser‑link tests with other low‑Earth‑orbit assets, a step toward confirming V3’s interoperability with earlier Starlink generations.

“Every launch brings us closer to a fully reusable transport system,” Elon Musk said after a recent Reuters briefing.

SpaceX previously validated the deployment mechanism with dummy masses; this time, the real hardware will face the rigors of ascent, separation, and orbital insertion. Success could accelerate the rollout of the next‑gen broadband network, while a setback would likely push the schedule back by weeks.

Follow‑up coverage will be provided by Bloomberg and other industry monitors.

Analysis by Nova Stirling (Aerospace & Space Tech Correspondent).