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SpaceX weighs a tower catch for Starship’s next flight

Flight 13 released functioning satellites and brought Starship through reentry to an intact splashdown. Super Heavy fared worse: several landing-burn engines failed to start, producing a harder-than-planned impact in the Gulf of Mexico. Attention has now shifted to the ship’s postflight condition and a more ambitious recovery test.

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The story so far

  1. July 26: This became the lead update after today's public launch records changed.
  2. July 26: The flight result was already known. The new development is the postflight assessment: drones examined the floating ship and heat shield, while Musk pointed to a possible.

Interpretation

Why this matters

Catching the upper stage would move SpaceX beyond demonstrating survival toward recovering both parts of the vehicle at the launch site—a key step in its reuse plan.

Known facts

  • SpaceX will likely attempt to catch Starship back at the launch pad on its next flight.
  • Super Heavy made an on-target but hard splashdown off Texas, while the Starship upper stage completed a successful suborbital flight to the Indian Ocean. All 33 first-stage engines fired normally at liftoff.
  • SpaceX launched Flight 13 on July 24, correcting some previous-flight issues and deploying functioning satellites for the first time. Not all engines needed for Super Heavy's landing burn started.

Unknowns

  • Whether the target, status, webcast, or mission outcome changes again after the next public update.

Source status

What the sources actually say

Each claim is kept next to its source so the story never overstates what official evidence can actually prove.

Agency statement

Ars Technica

SpaceX will likely attempt to catch Starship back at the launch pad on its next flight.

Independent reporting

Spaceflight Now

Super Heavy made an on-target but hard splashdown off Texas, while the Starship upper stage completed a successful suborbital flight to the Indian Ocean. All 33 first-stage engines fired normally at liftoff.

Independent reporting

SpaceNews

SpaceX launched Flight 13 on July 24, correcting some previous-flight issues and deploying functioning satellites for the first time. Not all engines needed for Super Heavy's landing burn started.

Agency statement

Ars Technica

SpaceX will likely attempt to catch Starship back at the launch pad on its next flight.

Open source
Independent reporting

Spaceflight Now

Super Heavy made an on-target but hard splashdown off Texas, while the Starship upper stage completed a successful suborbital flight to the Indian Ocean. All 33 first-stage engines fired normally at liftoff.

Open source
Independent reporting

SpaceNews

SpaceX launched Flight 13 on July 24, correcting some previous-flight issues and deploying functioning satellites for the first time. Not all engines needed for Super Heavy's landing burn started.

Open source
Independent reporting

SpacePolicyOnline.com

The outlet characterized Flight 13 as mostly successful. Starship completed its suborbital flight, while Super Heavy made a hard landing after several engines did not fire for its landing burn.

Open source

Timeline

How the story has developed

A running record of what changed, when, and why. Editorial review Jul 26, 2026.

  1. July 26: This became the lead update after today's public launch records changed.
  2. July 26: The flight result was already known. The new development is the postflight assessment: drones examined the floating ship and heat shield, while Musk pointed to a possible.

Corrections

  1. No corrections recorded.

No separate Starman's Note is needed yet.