SpaceX's Starship blasts off from Starbase in Texas on 13th test flight

STARBASE, Texas - SpaceX's Starship blasted off from Starbase in Texas on time Friday to send the craft on its 13th test flight.

The company postponed the launch, scheduled for Thursday, because of visibility concerns.

The company attempted to launch last week, but that attempt was scratched after several engines failed to start prior to the countdown reaching zero, according to Elon Musk.

SpaceX launches 13th Starship flight test

What we know:

SpaceX's latest test flight tested the company's Super Heavy booster with the objective of a successful launch, ascent, stage separation, boostback burn and landing burn. SpaceX said the booster's hardware has been modified to improve relight reliability.

In a first for Starship, the company launched 20 Starlink satellites during the flight. A successful relight of an engine while in space with a controlled entry, descent and splashdown in the Indian Ocean is also among the objectives. The company is also doing some testing of Starship's heat shields.

What went wrong during test flight 12?

SpaceX had issues with both the Super Heavy booster and Starship during its last test flight.

During the previous test flight, SpaceX said differences in engine startup on the ship caused the booster's directional flip to be off by 90 degrees. Some of the booster's engines also failed to reignite, causing its boostback burn to end early.

The Federal Aviation Administration cited "heat effects on propulsion system components during the ascent and erroneous engine alarm system settings" as causes for the booster's failure. SpaceX said those issues have been addressed for the upcoming test.

Starship also experienced issues during the test flight, when one of it lost one of its engines. Starship was still able to hit its planned trajectory.

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