After Canceling the Starship Launch, SpaceX Postpones the Launch of a Falcon 9 Rocket

On July 17, the Flight 13 mission of the large reusable rocket Starship was supposed to launch. Due to a problem with at least two Super Heavy Booster 20 engines, the launch was halted about a second before liftoff. Fortunately, both the first and second stages (Ship 40) were undamaged, and technicians have been working on replacing the Super Heavy's atmospheric Raptor 3 engines in recent days.

The Starship launch for Flight 13 is currently scheduled for July 24 around 0:45 (Italian time), when the launch window will open, although the arrival of a tropical storm could pose problems. This is the first postponement of a mission for this vehicle just before launch. As stated by SpaceX executives, this has allowed for testing procedures in case it should happen in the future, perhaps not with test missions but with operational ones.

SpaceX Cancels the Launch of a Falcon 9 Rocket

Interestingly, today, a Falcon 9 rocket also failed to launch due to a last-minute issue, the first launch of this rocket after the postponement of Flight 13. Although there are no details, it is highly unlikely (if not impossible) that it is the same problem that affected Starship, but it is a curious coincidence for a company that has accustomed us to launching an orbital-class rocket roughly every three days or less.

The Falcon 9 involved in the mishap is the one with code B1082-23, which was supposed to launch from the Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. On board are 24 Starlink V2 mini satellites to ensure the operation of the megaconstellation for internet connectivity, which will also be used for the Artemis III mission. The group of satellites is referred to as 17-39. The last time a similar problem occurred was during the Starlink mission for Group 10-2 in June 2024.

This was supposed to be the 23rd launch of this first stage of the Falcon 9. Previously, this same vehicle had been used for the USSF-62, OneWeb Launch 20, NROL-145 missions, and 19 Starlink missions. SpaceX has stated that both the vehicle and the payload are safe and has rescheduled the launch with the same hardware for tomorrow, July 21, at 16:00 (Italian time).

In both cases, both for Starship and for the Falcon 9, the fact that there has been no RUD (Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly) is certainly encouraging. It should also be noted that in 2026, SpaceX has launched 84 missions, mostly Starlink, surpassing all U.S. companies and also those around the world, both in number and total mass.