SpaceX Aborts Starship Flight 13 at Ignition; Stock Sinks Below IPO Price

SpaceX aborted the Starship Flight 13 launch on July 16 at 6:45 p.m. EDT when four Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster failed to ignite during the ignition sequence. CEO Elon Musk said the company will replace two engines and attempt the flight again early next week. The abort is the first major setback since SpaceX went public on June 12, raising $85 billion in the largest IPO in history. The stock closed below its $135 IPO price and fell more than 4% in after-hours trading.

What went wrong at the launch pad

SpaceX initiated the launch sequence at Starbase in South Texas with a 90-minute window. As the automated flight computer began igniting the 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster, some of the engines didn’t start, triggering an automatic launch abort. SpaceX livestream host Dan Huot said the flight computer initiated a hold and abort call at T-0, forcing the vehicle to shut down. The company then began offloading all methane and liquid oxygen fuel from the rocket.

Engine replacement and next attempt

Musk posted on X that the company would remove and replace two Raptors to ensure flight readiness. He said the most probable launch timing is early next week, though no specific date has been set. SpaceX will use Booster 20 and Ship 40 upper stage, both flying for the first time, and will not attempt to recover either for reuse.

What Flight 13 was supposed to accomplish

The mission planned to deploy 20 production Starlink V3 satellites on a suborbital trajectory. The satellites would extend solar arrays and antennas, attempt to connect with the broader Starlink constellation via high-capacity lasers, and remain in space for approximately 20 minutes before reentry. SpaceX intended to briefly link them to the network to test the satellites in a flight-like environment before operationalization. Other objectives include a Raptor engine relight on the upper stage and controlled splashdowns of both stages.

Impact on SpaceX stock and company timeline

SpaceX went public on June 12, raising more than $85 billion and briefly touching the valuations of Amazon and Microsoft. Since then, the stock has steadily fallen. On July 16, it closed below the $135 IPO price and sank more than 4% in after-hours trading. The abort comes just two months after Flight 12 in May, which was mostly successful but saw the Super Heavy booster fail to perform a controlled splashdown and the upper stage lose one Raptor engine during ascent.

Final Thoughts

The abort delays SpaceX’s Starlink V3 deployment but does not signal a fundamental flaw. With engine replacement underway and a retry scheduled for early next week, investors should watch for the next launch attempt to gauge whether the fix resolves the ignition issue.

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