SpaceX Prepares Starship Flight 13 with Upgrades After Booster Flaw Fix
SpaceX targets a 90-minute launch window Thursday evening for Starship Flight 13, applying hardware and software fixes to overcome prior booster issues and advance lunar mission goals.
The gist
SpaceX aims to reboot Starship with Flight 13 after booster problems grounded Flight 12, moving closer to Mars, moon missions, and commercial use.
Continuing coverage
All Spacex →SpaceX is gearing up for what may be one of the most crucial test flights of its massive Starship rocket to date. The company announced plans for Flight 13, targeting a 90-minute launch window opening at 6:45 p.m. EDT on Thursday, to validate key hardware and software upgrades designed to overcome malfunctions experienced during the previous flight. This mission mirrors many objectives of Flight 12, held in May, which introduced the more powerful Version 3 (V3) of the Starship vehicle but was plagued by booster anomalies that halted a flawless completion.
Flight 12 marked the debut of the Starship V3 configuration, the first iteration intended for commercial orbital deployments, particularly to launch large Starlink satellite payloads. This variant is also the platform for SpaceX's ambitious human landing system (HLS) proposal intended for NASA's future lunar missions, including a scheduled moon landing as early as 2028. The partial success and setbacks of Flight 12 carry significant weight in proving Starship's viability for these high-profile missions.
Despite Flight 12 successfully reaching orbit and deploying 20 dummy Starlink satellites, the Super Heavy booster suffered a failure during the flip and boostback burn needed for a controlled landing. The mishap resulted in a hard splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico and prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to temporarily ground Starship flights. On Monday, the FAA closed its investigation into the incident after accepting SpaceX's root cause assessment and corrective action plan, clearing the way for the next launch attempt.
According to SpaceX, the booster anomaly was traced to heat effects affecting propulsion components and erroneous engine alarm settings. During Flight 12, slight engine startup timing discrepancies caused a 90-degree deviation in the booster’s flip maneuver, which is crucial for fuel-efficient descent. Additionally, five of the 33 Raptor engines on the booster failed to relight after stage separation, prematurely ending the boostback burn and leading to a harsher landing than intended.
SpaceX has since implemented hardware improvements on the Super Heavy booster, updated engine alarm systems, and enhanced abort procedures to prevent recurrence. The modifications also addressed the loss of one of Starship’s three vacuum-optimized Raptor engines occurring shortly after stage separation on Flight 12. These fixes are central to Flight 13’s goal of restoring operational reliability.
Flight 13 aims to replicate Flight 12’s successful milestones while avoiding its shortcomings. Key goals include achieving a full launch sequence: liftoff, ascent, stage separation, booster boostback and landing burns with a soft ocean splashdown. On the orbital segment, SpaceX plans to relight one of the Starship’s Raptor engines in space, an action it was unable to accomplish previously due to engine failure. The mission will also test new heat shield tile attachments, designed to simulate potential catch hardware integration.
Unlike prior missions, Flight 13 will fly with real Starlink satellites instead of dummies. Twenty satellites are onboard, expected to burn up about 20 minutes post-deployment. Six feature cameras to capture and stream imagery of Starship’s heat shield condition back to mission controllers in Texas, providing critical data to assess damage and guide landing catch attempts. This system builds on Flight 12’s success, where similar satellite cameras accurately monitored the heat shield.
The Starship system differs significantly from Falcon 9 by employing a unique recovery method: instead of landing legs, the Super Heavy booster and Starship are designed to be caught mid-air by an enormous robotic arm at SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas. Although no such catch is planned for Flight 13, the company has demonstrated this recovery technique successfully on two booster flights. Continued progress toward regular flight cadence and recovery reliability remains a fundamental hurdle on the path to full reusability and operational capacity.
This test flight is pivotal as SpaceX races to meet increasing commercial and NASA demands for large payload launches, lunar landings, and extended space station servicing missions. After a seven-month gap between Flights 11 and 12—the longest since Starship debuted in 2023—the turnaround time of under two months for Flight 13 signifies accelerated development. However, with external competition and heightened scrutiny from regulatory agencies, the pressure is on SpaceX to establish Starship as a dependable workhorse for space access.
Frequently asked questions
- What caused the booster failure during Starship Flight 12?
- The booster failure was caused by heat effects on propulsion system components and erroneous engine alarm settings that led to a 90-degree deviation during the flip maneuver and failure to relight five Raptor engines.
- What upgrades has SpaceX implemented for Starship Flight 13?
- SpaceX has modified the engine startup sequence, improved hardware on the Super Heavy booster, updated engine alarm and abort systems, and addressed vacuum engine loss issues to prevent repeating prior anomalies.
- What are the main objectives of Starship Flight 13?
- Flight 13 aims to complete the full launch sequence successfully, test engine relight in orbit, evaluate heat shield tile attachments, and deploy real Starlink satellites equipped with cameras to monitor heat shield condition.
Read more
All Aviation Safety →Vertical Aerospace Delays Valo eVTOL Air Taxi Certification to 2029
American Airlines and other carriers who placed conditional orders for U.K. manufacturer Vertical Aerospace's Valo, an eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) air taxi, will not receive the aircraft until 2029 at the earliest. Vertical—considered the U.K.'s leading air taxi developer by virtue of being one of the only firms conducting routine flight testing—said Monday in a business update that it "re-baselined" its certification program, through which it seeks concurrent Valo type certification from European and American regulators. The new timeline puts certification in 2029, a one-year slip from the 2028 target the company announced in late 2024. "This timeline reflects the rigor of certifying an entirely new class of aircraft under an established regulatory certification framework," the company said in Monday's update. Vertical added that it will discuss certification in more detail at July's Farnborough International Airshow and in an August 13 business update. Vertical unveiled Valo as its flagship air taxi in December. It plans to establish networks across cities such as New York, Miami, and London, ferrying passengers between airports, city centers, hospitals, and event venues. The company is certifying Valo to the European Union Aviation Safety Agency's (EASA) special condition for VTOL (SC-VTOL) standard in the enhanced category, which would permit operations over populated areas. SC-VTOL Enhanced requires manufacturers to meet the same 10 -9 standard—denoting one catastrophic failure per billion flight hours—required of commercial airlines. Michael Cervenka, Vertical's chief commercial and technology officer, in January told FLYING that the FAA will "literally sign the [type] certificate on the same day." The agency will hold small eVTOL air taxis to the lower 10 -8 standard, so Cervenka said achieving concurrent approval will be like "passporting." "That gives us, effectively, a certification moat in Europe, where we're going to be the only aircraft certified to that highest standard, able to fly over populated areas, all the kind of real high value use cases," he said. Vertical had been targeting 2025 certification and entry into service until '23, when it pushed the timeline back to '26. U.S. air taxi manufacturers such as Archer Aviation and Joby Aviation have similarly seen their certification targets slip over the years, in part because the FAA modified the pathway for eVTOL models. Some of them no longer offer firm timelines. Still, a divide is forming between the American and European air taxi manufacturers. Joby and Beta Technologies are already flying conforming, preproduction prototypes—a phase Vertical does not expect to begin until next year. And while the FAA is overseeing expanded testing of precertification air taxis at airports nationwide, the European regulatory environment has been more stringent, leading some of Vertical's competitors to go bankrupt . Illustrating the divide, Beta Technologies has flown electric prototypes across the U.S., Europe, New Zealand, and Japan, while Vertical has been limited to activities at Cotswold Airport (EGBP). The company on Monday said it finally obtained expanded privileges from the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) that will open up flights away from Cotswold. When Are the Air Taxis Coming? U.S. eVTOL manufacturers toward the beginning of the decade communicated that their aircraft would begin flying passengers in 2024, give or take one year. As that timeline approached, they began to face the realities of type certification and operating at losses, prompting them to revise their expectations. Most recently, Joby gave a target of late 2026 for the launch of commercial air taxi service in Dubai, available on the Uber platform. But that timeline is now in question amid war in the Middle East. It has been a similar story for Vertical. The U.K. manufacturer estimated in September that it would require $700 million to complete Valo's certification. In April, it finalized a financing package worth up to $800 million and achieved Valo's first piloted transition from hover to forward flight and back again. The company is flight testing two prototypes under a CAA permit to fly authorization. American manufacturers have more aircraft in the sky, though, in part due to a crash that Vertical suffered during an uncrewed prototype flight in 2023. The incident permanently grounded the prototype, called the VX4. The company returned to flight testing with a second VX4 in 2024 and in June introduced a third and final prototype. Per Vertical's Flight Plan 2030 vision plan, released in December 2024, the third VX4 was supposed to debut in '25. It is intended to be followed by seven conforming, preproduction aircraft that Vertical will use for certification testing with the CAA. The Flight Plan also targeted the VX4's first piloted transition in 2025, but that did not happen until April. Vertical CEO Stuart Simpson said during an earnings call in May that the milestone came "slightly late" and "nudges up the risk" for certification in 2028. He reiterated that the target "remains absolutely doable" but earlier in the call said it was "under additional risk." In addition to delaying certification to 2029 on Monday, Vertical said it would complete Valo's critical design review (CDR) by the end of the year, a slip from Simpson's previous mid-2026 target. CDR would finalize the air taxi's baseline design and allow Vertical to begin building conforming prototypes for certification testing. Silver Linings Despite the delays, Vertical also announced some progress Monday. Ahead of CDR, it plans to open an assembly facility for early production aircraft in the coming months. By year's end, it aims to activate a battery production plant. Combined with the CAA's expanded permit to fly, those moves will position Vertical for expanded testing once the preproduction aircraft are ready. Vertical also said Monday that propulsion system evaluation for a planned hybrid-electric variant, designed for a range of up to 1,000 miles, is underway on a dedicated test rig. It expects to fly it in the first half of 2027 and announce a long-term turbogenerator supplier this year. It is possible that the hybrid-electric Valo enters service before the passenger air taxi variant. American manufacturers Archer, Joby, and Beta have similarly developed hybrid-electric variants of their flagship models as they pursue earlier opportunities in cargo and defense. In the near term, Vertical could bid for contracts—such as those the aforementioned companies have secured with U.S. military branches—to ease financial stress as it pushes forward with certification. Either way, the U.K. air taxi leader will need to get creative to achieve the goals it set in December 2024. Those include 150 customer deliveries and 200 aircraft produced annually by the end of the decade.
New Marine One Helicopters Cause Lawn Damage, FAA Reviews DC Crash Safety
New Sikorsky Marine One helicopters damage the White House lawn, the airports renamed for U.S. presidents, airline consolidation, DCA crash safety recommendations, controversy over ADS-B In regulations, Air France and Airbus manslaughter verdict, passengers sue Delta over turbulence injuries, a Ryanair window ruptures, and a seaplane makes a hard landing in New York's East River. Also, interviews from the Spurwink Farm fly-in. Aviation News Lockheed Martin Is Covering the Cost of Trump's White House Helipad President Trump said that Sikorsky, part of Lockheed Martin, would cover the cost of building a new helipad at the White House. Lockheed Martin confirmed the report. Sikorsky helicopters have been used to transport the president since the 1970s. The new VH-92A Patriot helicopter has propulsion exhaust vents located toward the rear of the airframe and pointed downward, unlike the VH-3D’s configuration. Also, with much more powerful engines, the VH-92A generates significantly more downwash than the VH-3D. The hot exhaust gets combined with the intense rotor downwash at touchdown, and the combined heat-and-airflow effect scorches the turf and can physically rip sod loose. Airline consolidation now rules the skies. Has it been good for passengers? Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, and US Airways are gone. Spirit Airlines is gone as well. Now, the Big Four U.S. airlines control roughly three-quarters of the U.S. market. Has this been good for the flying public? It depends on who you ask. Former governor Chris Sununu, now the head of Airlines for America, said at a Capitol Hill hearing, “We have more competition per route than ever before. When I go to buy a ticket, I have four, five, or six carriers going from Wichita to Dallas. So now they’re all competing on that exact same route." There are six airlines serving Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport, but there’s only one that flies nonstop to Dallas. Past guest Ganesh Sitaraman, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School and the author of the book Why Flying Is Miserable and How to Fix It said, “From the airlines’ perspective, it makes sense. Bigger is better, and it’ll be more efficient for them, even if there’s a lot of drawbacks for communities and passengers.” A Florida airport is officially renamed for Trump. What does he stand to gain? FAA Details First Official Response to DC Crash Safety Recommendations After the January 2025 midair collision near Washington, D.C., that killed 67 people, the NTSB issued nearly three dozen recommendations. As is always the case, the FAA is not obligated to implement the NTSB’s recommendations. Earlier this year, the FAA said it had fully addressed seven of the recommendations and that it would evaluate the others, with further updates to come by May 31, 2027. The Air Current reported that the FAA indicated it is evaluating whether the number of arrivals permitted per hour at DCA is appropriate. This is a key metric that the NTSB said contributed to the airport’s congestion at the time of the crash. Also, any adjustments will be determined after an official analysis in 2027. This $50,000 Safety Fix Is Dividing the Aviation Industry and Washington This could be characterized as a conference-committee fight over how strong an ADS-B In mandate should be, not whether there will be one. ALPA and NTSB are on one side (ROTOR Act), and industry groups like A4A/AOPA/NBAA on the other (ALERT) side. Senate: ROTOR Act (Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform Act) Would require all aircraft to be equipped with ADS-B In and repeal certain military exemptions from the technology requirements. Passed the Senate by unanimous consent in December, with strong support, including from ALPA. The House rejected it on February 24, 2026, falling one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed after the Defense Department raised national security concerns House: ALERT Act (Airspace Location and Enhanced Risk Transparency Act) House lawmakers revised the bill to explicitly include an ADS-B In mandate after the earlier version was criticized for failing to clearly require it. The updated version requires that aircraft carry both ADS-B In and ACAS X (Airborne Collision Avoidance System X), integrated so ADS-B In data feeds the alerting function. Opposition: ALPA doesn’t endorse it, arguing that ACAS Xa (the large-commercial-aircraft variant) isn’t yet commercialized, that no integration standards exist, and that the system suppresses alerts below 1,000 feet when situational awareness matters most. The NTSB also declined to support it, saying it falls short of requiring ADS-B In for all aircraft operating in airspace where ADS-B Out is already required, even though it allows compliance via portable receivers with line-of-sight limitations. Air France and Airbus found guilty of manslaughter over 2009 plane crash A Paris Appeals Court found Air France and Airbus “solely and entirely responsible” for the 2009 AF447 accident, which killed 228 people when it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The companies were cleared in April 2023 but were found guilty after an eight-week trial. Both Air France and Airbus have denied the charges and say they will appeal. In 2012, French investigators found a combination of technical failure involving ice in the pitot tubes and pilot confusion over faulty air-speed readings. Pilot training has since been modified, and pitot tube sensors have been replaced. 20 Sue Delta Over 2.5 Minutes of Terror on Flight Out of Utah A lawsuit has been filed against Delta Air Lines on behalf of 20 passengers of Delta Flight 56, claiming that pilots “recklessly flew” too close to thunderstorms, where severe turbulence caused multiple injuries. The turbulence lasted 2 1/2 minutes over Wyoming, and the flight was diverted to Minnesota. Twenty-five people were transported to local hospitals. The NTSB said the pilots were caught by surprise. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs allege that the National Weather Service issued an advisory warning that turbulent conditions were present in the mountains east of Salt Lake City and that thunderstorms were present along portions of the flight path. Apparent engine fan blade failure preceded rupture of Ryanair 737 window The Air Current reports that the rupture of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 window resulted from a fan blade failure on the right CFM56-7B engine. Fan blade failures are serious but rare. Aircraft engines are designed to contain fan blade failures and are tested during the certification process. The FAA issued airworthiness directives to mitigate the risk of fan blade failure through inspections and an engine inlet redesign to ensure containment. The FAA set a July 31, 2028, deadline for compliance. Small plane makes hard landing into New York's East River, officials say A Kodiak 100 seaplane with eight people on board made a hard landing in the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan. There was "substantial damage" to the plane, but there were no injuries. The plane bounced three times, and the pilot subsequently told the passengers that a pontoon had broken. A pattern of progressive porpoise leading to structural failure appears in NTSB seaplane accident reports across various types, including Cessna 206 and 208 Caravan floatplanes, de Havilland Beavers, and Twin Otters on floats. A few East River/urban seaplane-specific factors that might be in play: Wake and chop from harbor traffic (ferries, tour boats) create a much less predictable water surface than open lake/bay operations. Confined approach corridors near Skyport limit go-around and abort options if the pilot senses a bad touchdown developing. The area has had at least one other recent seaplane mishap (a two-seater damaged by a wave three weeks prior), suggesting water-surface conditions have been a recurring operational challenge
Wisk Aero and NASA Demonstrate Ground Supervisor Managing Three Autonomous eVTOLs
Boeing's eVTOL (electric vertical takeoff and landing) air taxi unit Wisk Aero believes it has made a breakthrough in testing that it is conducting with NASA under a five-year Space Act agreement . Wisk said Wednesday that it simulated the simultaneous orchestration of three uncrewed aircraft, alongside regular air traffic, by a single ground-based supervisor. For autonomous models like Wisk's Generation 6 air taxi, the ability for one person to remotely oversee multiple aircraft is considered the unlock for operations at scale. However, with limited exceptions, the FAA does not permit operators to fly multiple small drones at once, let alone uncrewed aircraft that are designed to carry passengers. The Gen 6 lacks pilot controls but has four passenger seats. Wisk is the only American eVTOL developer that plans to integrate autonomy at launch. But others, including Joby Aviation, Archer Aviation, and Beta Technologies, view autonomous systems as critical to growing beyond a handful of daily operations. Wisk's Generation 6, a prototype of which made its first flight in December, is designed to coordinate with what the company calls multi-vehicle supervisors (MVSors). These personnel would oversee operations remotely and step in should the air taxi deviate from its predefined route. "This is an incredible milestone for Wisk as it's the first time we've successfully tested our 1:3 supervisor-to-aircraft ratio with NASA in a high-fidelity, high-workload environment that mirrors the complexity of the NAS," said Erick Corona, who heads system and operations integration for Wisk, in a statement. The company's Space Act agreement, awarded last year, is intended to study autonomous aircraft operations in the national airspace system (NAS) under IFR. Eventually, it is expected to combine actual flights with simulated airspace in NASA's Live Virtual Constructive (LVC) flight environment, which can layer live or historical NAS traffic over real-world aircraft. Goals of the collaboration include the development of standards for airspace and route design, aircraft and ground safety, and air traffic control (ATC) communications with uncrewed aircraft. Three For One Wisk said its Autonomy Lab in Mountain View, California, where the company studies human supervisors' interactions with the Gen 6's automated systems, was connected to ATC simulation laboratories at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley. The partners used the NASA facilities, which can create full-scale, 360-degree simulations of the airport environment, to follow predetermined IFR routes between Moffett Federal Airfield (KNUQ) and San Martin Airport (E16) in California's San Francisco Bay Area. Wisk said its supervisors used the company's remote supervision system and autonomous systems to communicate with ATCs, who relied on existing tools and procedures. The researchers studied communication response times, task latency, situational awareness, and cognitive workload across both nominal and worst-case scenarios developed by NASA and Wisk. "Proving that a single ground-based supervisor can manage multiple flights safely and efficiently is paramount to making commercial air taxi operations scalable and affordable,” said Wisk’s Corona. Wisk said data and learnings from the simulation campaign could help to standardize communications and procedural frameworks designed to reduce ATC and pilot workload. It may also advance the company's vision for automated flight rules (AFR), a proposed policy framework that would define the role of its multi-vehicle supervisors. "AFR is designed to complement, not replace, VFR and IFR, and to be available to any properly equipped airspace user," Wisk wrote in a February blog post . "Whereas VFR and IFR rely on pilot visual awareness and ATC-provided services to keep aircraft safely separated, AFR will allow aircraft to use automation to perform conflict management functions." What's Next? Wisk's collaboration with NASA could produce tangible results. The space agency's UAS Traffic Management (UTM) project led directly to the FAA's development of the Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) for drone operations. The UTM team also devised the air traffic management framework that the FAA is using to facilitate drone operations in Dallas-Fort Worth. The city is the first to allow multiple operators to share airspace and fly beyond the visual line of sight (BVLOS) of personnel. Kurt Swieringa, deputy manager for technology for NASA's Air Traffic Management Exploration (ATM-X) project, told FLYING last year that his unit was shaping a version of the Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) that can accommodate uncrewed aircraft. NASA researchers have tested digitized communications between ATC and the flight deck and conducted many remotely piloted flights. They have also studied air taxi noise, traffic, ride quality, and crash scenarios. The space agency shares these findings with the FAA to inform new regulations that could unlock commercial service for Wisk, Joby, Archer, Beta, and more. Unlike competitors, Wisk's Gen 6 will be autonomous from the get-go and could benefit the most from NASA's work. "I think there's a hurdle of integrating an eVTOL into the airspace, and then there's the autonomous piece," said Cindy Comer, Wisk's vice president of SMS, safety, and quality, in a Q&A that appeared in the March 2026 issue of FLYING . "How do we best engage with air traffic control so that we don't increase their workload, but they're aware and engaged in our flights as much as they need to be?" Per Comer, the Gen 6 uses a combination of computers, predictive hardware and software, radar, sensors, and ground links to detect and avoid other aircraft on its own. Many of its systems are present on transport-category aircraft such as the Boeing 737 or Airbus A350. Wisk is even providing autonomous systems for future variants of Archer's Midnight air taxi, and Comer left the door open when asked if the company could sell them to other rivals. Should they adopt Wisk's autonomy, those competitors could rely on the same multi-vehicle supervisor framework that it and NASA are studying. Of course, the partners will eventually need to validate the strategy with real flying. Wisk's first Gen 6 prototype was joined by a second in May . Though it did not fly them during the recent NASA campaign, Wisk hopes to debut the prototypes publicly by the end of the FAA's eVTOL Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). The multiyear program will see Wisk work with the Texas Department of Transportation toward high-frequency Gen 6 flights. Dan Dalton, Wisk's vice president of commercialization and airline development, told FLYING in March that the FAA during the eIPP may even permit passenger carrying operations for revenue. The eIPP kicked off last week with organ delivery flights completed by Beta's all-electric Alia CX300. Activities under the multiyear program are expected to grow increasingly complex.
NBAA Honors Doug Carr for 28 Years Driving Safety and Security in Business Aviation
NBAA Senior Vice President for Safety, Security, Sustainability and International Operations Doug Carr recently announced his decision to retire from NBAA at the end of August after 28 years of outstanding service to NBAA and the entire business aviation community.
The Daily Touch & Go
The day's best aviation news in your inbox. Free, no spam.