Elon Musk posted on X late July 25, 2026, that Starship Flight 13 landed intact in the Indian Ocean — still floating and transmitting telemetry. Hours earlier, the rocket had deployed 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites for the first time. Musk then set the next milestone: unless post-flight data review finds problems, SpaceX will attempt to catch the Starship upper stage with the launch tower on Flight 14.
Flight 13 was SpaceX's first Starship test since the SPCX listing — and the first to put real Starlink hardware in space from the megarocket. The upper stage succeeded where prior flights exploded at splashdown. The Super Heavy booster did not: five Raptor engines failed to relight during landing, sending Booster 20 into a hard Gulf of Mexico impact. Musk's X posts focused on the ship, the heat shield data, and what comes next.
Musk's X Posts After Flight 13
SpaceX launched Starship Flight 13 on July 24 at 6:51 p.m. EDT from Starbase, Texas — the third attempt after a July 16 engine abort and a July 23 weather scrub tied to Tropical Storm Bertha. The upper stage completed its suborbital profile roughly 65 minutes later.
Musk confirmed the result on X:
"Starship is intact, floating in the ocean and transmitting telemetry!"
SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot called it the company's first intact Starship in the water. Onboard cameras continued streaming as the vehicle bobbed in the Indian Ocean — a sharp contrast to earlier flights that ended in fire and rupture at splashdown.
Musk followed with two posts that define the program's near-term roadmap:
"We got all the heat shield data we needed and then some!"
"Unless we discover problems after mission data review, SpaceX will attempt to catch the ship with the tower on next flight."
The tower-catch line is the headline. SpaceX has already snagged Super Heavy boosters with the Mechazilla chopstick arms at Starbase — but never the orbital-class Starship upper stage, which returns at far higher velocity and thermal load. Musk had previously said at least two successful soft ocean landings would precede a Starbase return attempt. Flight 13 may have cleared that bar in a single mission.
What Flight 13 Achieved
| Component | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Super Heavy liftoff | All 33 Raptor engines ignited — fix validated after July 16 turbopump abort |
| Starlink V3 payload | 20 operational satellites deployed; linked to constellation via laser before planned burn-up |
| Starship in-space engine | 14-second Raptor relight — longest in-space test fire to date |
| Starship reentry / landing | Soft splashdown in Indian Ocean; vehicle intact, telemetry active post-landing |
| Super Heavy landing | Only 8 of 13 engines needed for landing burn ignited; hard splashdown in Gulf of Mexico |
The Starlink V3 deployment is the operational milestone. Previous Starship flights carried dummy mass simulators. Flight 13 released 20 rectangular V3 satellites that extended solar arrays and antennas, then connected to SpaceX's roughly 10,800-satellite constellation through inter-satellite laser links before re-entering as planned roughly 20 minutes later.
Six satellites carried cameras pointed back at Starship to capture heat shield performance during ascent — the imaging objective that weather had blocked on the July 23 scrub attempt. Musk's post-flight heat shield comment suggests that data set met or exceeded expectations.
Booster Landing — The Open Problem
Super Heavy's hard Gulf splashdown mirrors a recurring Starship program pattern: the upper stage advances while booster recovery lags. On Flight 12 in May, engine failures during booster descent grounded the stack for weeks. Flight 13 fixed the liftoff abort issue — four engines failed to ignite on July 16 because of liquid oxygen turbopump freezing — but landing reignition remains unresolved.
Dan Huot noted the booster "came in with quite a bit of velocity." SpaceX has not publicly identified a root cause for the five engines that failed to relight. The FAA had not commented on the booster outcome as of July 26 reporting.
For SPCX investors, booster recovery affects launch cost economics — full reusability requires both stages. But the upper-stage success and V3 deployment matter more immediately for Starlink capacity expansion and the Starship-dependent orbital compute roadmap (AI1, Starmind).
Flight 14: Tower Catch and Orbital Path
If Musk's X post holds, Flight 14 would attempt something SpaceX has never done with an upper stage: return Starship to the Starbase launch tower and catch it mid-descent with mechanical arms.
Ars Technica and SatNews reported that Flight 14 could also push toward a longer-range trajectory — potentially low Earth orbit — rather than repeating the suborbital Indian Ocean hop. Gwynne Shotwell said in a June interview that if Flight 13 went well, SpaceX might attempt its first orbital Starship mission on Flight 14, with a Florida launch on Flight 15.
Regulatory approval from the FAA for an expanded landing profile at Starbase would be required before any tower catch. SpaceX has not announced a Flight 14 target date.
SPCX Market Context — July 26 Weekend
Flight 13 landed as SPCX trades well below its June post-IPO peak. Shares closed Friday, July 25, at approximately $115.07 — down 7.2% for the week and roughly 48% from the intraday high above $225 set in mid-June, according to market reporting.
Two catalysts loom:
- August 4 earnings — SpaceX's first quarterly report as a public company, after U.S. markets close
- Lock-up release — up to 911.5 million restricted shares may become eligible for sale starting the second full trading day after the earnings release, versus a public float of roughly 646 million shares as of July 25
Short interest remains elevated — estimated at roughly 32% of the tradable float (~206 million shares, ~$25 billion notional) per S3 Partners data cited in July reporting. Musk warned short sellers on X in mid-July that firms maintaining significant bearish positions face "very low" survival probability over time.
Flight 13 gives bulls fresh hardware evidence. It does not resolve near-term valuation questions that August 4 financials will address.
What to Watch
- Flight 13 data review — go/no-go for tower catch on Flight 14
- Booster landing fix — root cause and timeline for Raptor reignition failures
- Flight 14 date and profile — suborbital tower catch vs. orbital attempt
- August 4 earnings — Starlink revenue, xAI segment detail, capex on orbital compute
- Lock-up dynamics — eligible share volume vs. actual selling pressure post-earnings
The Bottom Line
Musk's post-Flight 13 X thread marks a turning point: Starship survived splashdown intact for the first time, Starlink V3 flew operationally from the megarocket, and the CEO signaled tower catch on the very next flight. The booster landing miss is real — but Musk's public focus was on the data SpaceX needed and the recovery maneuver ahead. For a company trading 48% off its peak with earnings nine days away, Flight 13 is the strongest engineering headline since the IPO.
FAQ
What did Elon Musk say about Starship Flight 13 on X?
Musk posted that Starship was intact, floating in the Indian Ocean, and still transmitting telemetry. He added that SpaceX got all the heat shield data it needed and, pending data review, will attempt to catch the ship with the launch tower on Flight 14.
Did Flight 13 deploy real Starlink satellites?
Yes. Flight 13 deployed 20 operational Starlink V3 satellites — the first time actual next-generation Starlink hardware flew on Starship. The satellites linked to the existing constellation via laser before re-entering as planned.
What went wrong with the Super Heavy booster?
Only 8 of the 13 Raptor engines required for the landing burn reignited. The booster hit the Gulf of Mexico at high velocity in a hard splashdown, unlike the upper stage's soft Indian Ocean landing.
When is SpaceX's next Starship flight?
SpaceX has not announced a Flight 14 date. Musk said the next flight will attempt a tower catch if Flight 13 data review finds no blocking issues.
Based on Elon Musk's July 25, 2026, X posts, SpaceX Flight 13 webcast and mission updates, and public market data as of July 26, 2026.