SpaceX Cancels 10th Starship Flight Test Just Before Scheduled Launch

SpaceX announced it was canceling the 10th launch of the Starship moments before the flight was set to begin.

“Standing down from today’s tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems,” SpaceX said in a statement.

Starship’s 10th flight test was scheduled to lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase launch site in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

The company has not yet managed to complete a mission using the stainless-steel spacecraft, which is designed for full reusability and has the capacity to transport up to 100 individuals to distant space locations.

In mid-June, a Starship exploded on the launch pad during a pre-flight engine test.

Notably, this explosion happened less than a month after the ninth test flight was cut short, when the Starship underwent a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” due to multiple mechanical issues just minutes into its journey, as reported by SpaceX.

Additionally, the company lost the first stage heavy booster during this test when it seemed to explode upon impact with the Gulf. SpaceX attributed this to “higher than anticipated forces on the booster structure” causing the failure.