SpaceX launched its 13th Starship test flight from South Texas on July 24 after weather and engine delays. The vehicle carried 20 next-generation V3 Starlink satellites on its first payload mission.
The flight marked the second use of the upgraded V3 Starship configuration that first flew in May. SpaceX said the test aimed to gather data toward a fully reusable design while also checking the new satellites.
The 20 satellites were released on a suborbital path and were expected to burn up in the atmosphere about 20 minutes after deployment. Two of them carried cameras to photograph Starship's heat shield during reentry.
Two prior attempts were scrubbed, one on July 16 due to engine issues and another on July 23 because of weather. The satellites feature higher capacity than earlier models, with up to 1 Tbps downlink and 160 Gbps uplink.
