Bad weather foiled SpaceX's latest attempt to launch its massive Starship rocket from South Texas.
The world's largest rocket was stacked and ready to go on the launch pad at the commercial spaceflight company's headquarters. But in a bit of unfortunate luck, the launch window was scheduled to open on a day that Tropical Storm Bertha brought rain, wind and rough surf to the Texas coast.
SpaceX, which Elon Musk founded in 2002, ultimately opted to forego the mission for another 24 hours. When Starship does get off the ground, it will be the 13th flight test for a spacecraft that is not only the centerpiece of Musk's dreams of interplanetary travel, but that will be crucial to NASA's upcoming moon landings.
Here's the latest on a mission SpaceX refers
to as flight 13.
Did Starship launch? SpaceX scrubs flight 13
SpaceX was working toward a Thursday, July 23 launch of its Starship rocket from its Starbase company town and headquarters in South Texas near the U.S.-Mexico border.
But in a possibility the company had anticipated, poor weather due to Tropical Storm Bertha forced the company to scrub, or postpone, the launch attempt.
"A key objective for the flight test is to get clear imagery from the ground of Starship’s heatshield as it flies at a higher dynamic pressure during ascent, which won't be possible with today's weather conditions," SpaceX said in a post on X.
Now targeting Friday, July 24 for Starship’s thirteenth flight test, due to weather.
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 23, 2026
A key objective for the flight test is to get clear imagery from the ground of Starship’s heatshield as it flies at a higher dynamic pressure during ascent, which won't be possible with today's… pic.twitter.com/O4qyJaXjVs
The scrub marks the second delay for Starship's 13th flight test, which was originally slated to get off the ground July 16. The previous postponement came after Starship's system triggered an automatic abort when several engines on the first-stage booster, known as Super Heavy, failed to start.
When will Starship launch today? Time of liftoff
Fortunately for SpaceX, the weather forecast looks much better Friday, July 24.
The company is now targeting a 90-minute launch window open at 6:45 p.m. ET, according to its website.
How to watch Starship launch live
The launch will be available to stream on SpaceX's website beginning about 30 minutes before liftoff. SpaceX will also provide updates on social media site X.
What is SpaceX's 13th Starship flight test?
For the next Starship test flight, SpaceX said it is aiming to complete similar objectives as the last launch in May in which it debuted its Version 3 prototype.
SpaceX plans to push the performance of the Super Heavy booster – responsible for the initial burst of thrust at liftoff – before it lands in the Gulf of Mexico, renamed in the U.S. under executive order as the Gulf of America. The upper stage, which is designed to eventually fly in orbit, will also be put to the test as it flies halfway around the world ahead of a landing in the Indian Ocean.
In a major first, Starship will be carrying 20 larger versions of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites that it will attempt to deliver into suborbital space. The satellites will deploy solar arrays and antennas while attempeting to connect with SpaceX's larger Starlink constellation higher up in orbit before they fall toward the ground and burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes later.
If this sounds familiar, that's because SpaceX has deployed mock Starlink satellites during previous Starship flight tests.
What is Starship?
Starship is the massive rocket that SpaceX, the commercial company founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been testing since April 2023. SpaceX is developing the rocket to be a fully reusable transportation system that can carry huge satellites and other payloads to space, meaning both the rocket and vehicle can return to the ground for additional missions.
Musk's vision has long been for Starship to be an interplanetary vehicle that takes humans to Mars, where they can establish a self-sustaining colony. While the world's richest man has indicated that SpaceX will focus on building a lunar city first, the company has already announced a human-led expedition to Mars' orbit – though it has not set a target date.
SpaceX is also under contract with NASA to develop a lunar lander configuration of its Starship, known as the Human Landing System, to ferry astronauts to the moon under the U.S. space agency's Artemis program.
How tall is Starship? Is it the world's largest rocket?
Starship's most recent flight test in May marked the debut of SpaceX's third-generation prototype of the rocket. Standing at 407 feet tall when fully stacked, the new iteration of Starship – known as Version 3, or V3 – became the largest and most powerful rocket SpaceX has ever launched.
Similar to previous designs, the fully integrated Starship spacecraft is composed of both a 236-feet-tall lower-stage booster known as Super Heavy that provides the initial burst of thrust at liftoff, as well as a 171-feet-tall upper stage simply called Starship that flies in orbit.
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Will Starship launch today? What to know after 2nd SpaceX scrub
