SpaceX Cancels Starship Megarocket Launch in Latest Setback

AFP/APP

South Padre Island: SpaceX canceled a planned test flight of its Starship megarocket on Sunday, citing technical issues, in the latest setback for Elon Musk’s ambitious program after a series of explosive failures.

The launch from the company’s Starbase in southern Texas had been scheduled for 6:30 pm local time (2330 GMT), but was called off about 15 minutes before liftoff. “Standing down from today’s tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems,” SpaceX said on X, without elaborating.

The mission, an uncrewed hour-long flight, was meant to test the rocket’s upper stage on a half-orbit around the globe, while the booster was set to splash down in the Indian Ocean. According to local road closure notices, the launch could be rescheduled for Monday or Tuesday, though SpaceX has not provided a timeline.

Starship is central to Musk’s vision of colonizing Mars and is also key to NASA’s plans to return astronauts to the Moon. But the rocket’s upper stage has failed in all three test flights this year, either exploding in space or breaking up mid-flight. Another test in June ended with an explosion on the ground during a fueling exercise.

At 403 feet (123 meters), Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built and is designed to be fully reusable. However, SpaceX has yet to demonstrate the upper stage’s ability to deliver a payload to orbit or safely return to the launch site.

While the company has succeeded in catching the lower stage booster with its giant launch tower arms three times, Sunday’s canceled test was not intended to attempt that maneuver. Instead, SpaceX said it wanted to “intentionally stress the structural limits” of the upper stage in hopes of advancing development.

Analysts say the repeated failures are beginning to tarnish SpaceX’s reputation for innovation. “We’ve had so many tests and it hasn’t proven itself reliable — the successes have not exceeded the failures,” Dallas Kasaboski of Analysys Mason told AFP.

Critics, including former engineer Will Lockett, argue the inability to reach orbit suggests “the concept of Starship is fundamentally flawed.” Musk, however, remains committed, saying Starship will eventually replace the Falcon rocket family and could launch its first uncrewed Mars missions as soon as next year.

Despite mounting challenges — from reusability to in-orbit refueling — SpaceX continues to increase its test frequency, even as environmental groups raise concerns over ecological impacts. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) confirmed last week it had closed its investigation into the last Starship explosion, noting that no one was injured.