SpaceX launches 13th Starship test, briefly deploys first upgraded Starlinks

WASHINGTON, July 24 : SpaceX's Starship rocket lifted off from Texas on Friday and briefly put its first 20 upgraded Starlink internet satellites into suborbital space, the company's 13th test mission as it aims to begin routine service by the end of the year.The roughly 400-foot-tall (122-metre-tall) Starship rocket system blasted off around 6:50 p.m. ET from SpaceX's Starbase company town in Texas. During the mission, the rocket launched 20 of Starlink's V3 satellites, a much more powerful version with greater bandwidth and internet speeds. They briefly connected with SpaceX's existing network of some 10,000 orbiting satellites. Then, as planned, they followed the ship's suborbital trajectory into Earth's atmosphere and burned up. As the craft flew over a shadowed Earth, a camera fixed t