SpaceX’s Starship Flight 13 could happen as soon as next month, according to president Gwynne Shotwell. But don’t hold your breath — there’s still significant work to do. The next test will mirror the previous one: suborbital trajectory, splashdown in the Indian Ocean. Orbital attempts are on hold until at least Flight 14 after the ship failed a critical engine restart during the last flight.
Over in Europe, Isar Aerospace scrubbed another launch attempt. The company detected off-nominal behavior in the Spectrum rocket’s fluid systems and is analyzing the data to find the root cause. Isar has raised nearly $1 billion and leads the pack of European rocket startups, but flight experience remains the one thing money can’t buy. The Spectrum has flown exactly once — a failed launch last year that lasted less than 30 seconds.
Blue Origin is rebuilding its launch pad, and Relativity Space is targeting Mars. The commercial launch sector keeps moving, even when the timelines slip.
SpaceX is holding off on orbital Starship flights until it nails the engine restart in space. That’s the bottleneck, and there’s no shortcut around it. Flight 14 will be the one to watch.
