SpaceX, led by Elon Musk, called off the test flight of its Starship rocket just moments before its scheduled launch on Monday, citing an unspecified issue with the massive spacecraft. The launch, planned for 6:45 pm (2345GMT) from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, was expected to be the eighth orbital mission for the rocket, following a dramatic mid-air explosion during its last trial over the Caribbean.
“Standing down from today’s flight test attempt,” SpaceX announced on X (formerly Twitter), adding that the Starship team is evaluating the next best opportunity for a flight. SpaceX employee Dan Huot later indicated that the delay could last about 24 hours, although a rescheduled date has not yet been confirmed.
Standing 403 feet (123 meters) tall, Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket in the world. Designed to be fully reusable, it plays a central role in Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars, as well as NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) grounded Starship after its previous test flight in January, when the upper stage disintegrated over the Turks and Caicos Islands. The FAA has since given SpaceX approval to return the rocket to flight, pending the conclusion of its review into the incident.
For this mission, SpaceX has introduced several upgrades to the upper-stage spacecraft to improve its reliability. The flight will also test the company’s ability to catch the booster stage with the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms and deploy Starlink simulators designed to burn up upon re-entry.
SpaceX’s ultimate goal is for the complete reusability of Starship, a challenge Musk acknowledges is complicated, particularly regarding the rocket’s heat shield. The company aims to achieve full and rapid reusability of the rocket and booster by next year.
