“We have postponed today’s tenth flight of Starship to address some issues with our ground systems,” the company stated on X.
More details about the cancelled Starship launch
The launch was set to take place from Starbase in southern Texas and would have marked the site’s tenth mission.
Although scheduled for 6:30 p.m. local time (23:30 GMT), the launch was aborted 15 minutes before takeoff.
On Sunday, SpaceX’s founder, Elon Musk, had shared on his platform, “Starship 10 launching tonight.”
SpaceX hasn’t confirmed whether they will make another launch attempt.
The cancellation represents another hurdle for Musk’s company this year, following two previous flight tests that failed early on, one in-flight failure in space, and a ground explosion during a “static fire” test in June.
Information about the Starship rocket
The Starship rocket is an integral part of Musk’s ambitious plan to send humans to Mars.
Musk had previously mentioned that Starship could depart for Mars by the end of 2026 with a humanoid robot on board. He predicted that human missions could take place between 2029 and 2031.
At a towering height of 403 feet (123 meters), the rocket is designed to be fully reusable.
SpaceX’s philosophy of “fail fast, learn fast” has enabled the company to become the leader in launch services worldwide. However, the setbacks experienced with Starship have raised concerns about the feasibility of replicating this success with the larger rocket.
Edited by: Karl Sexton
