SpaceX’s Starship calls off first flight attempt since explosive mishap

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - WASHINGTON — SpaceX is standing down from the eighth uncrewed test flight of its gargantuan Starship mega rocket.

The mission was expected to lift off during an hourlong launch window that opened at 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. ET) from SpaceX’s Starbase facilities in South Texas.

But a couple of issues, including an undisclosed issue with the Super Heavy booster, cropped up during the countdown to the launch. While the booster issue didn’t appear to halt proceedings for long, computers detected more issues, and the company opted to scrub the launch. SpaceX has not yet set a date for the next attempt, but the vehicle could be ready to lift off as soon as 24 hours, said SpaceX’s Dan Huot during the live stream.

SpaceX founder Elon Musk posted that there were “too many question marks about this flight,” on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “Best to destack, inspect both stages and try again in a day or two.”

The company only stacked the Starship spacecraft atop the Super Heavy booster this morning. Such last-minute assembly is not common in the world of rocketry.

Huot said the company opted to wait to stack the rocket system in an effort to continue chasing the goal of making Starship as nimble as possible.

“We really want to get to a point where we can fly rapidly, fly as quickly as possible,” Huot said. “And so this is definitely a case to try and push that forward.”

He added that SpaceX did not conduct a “wet dress” rehearsal of the vehicle, a ground test that typically precedes rocket launches during which engineers fill the rocket with fuel and practice for launch. Such proceedings are typically opportunities to hash out any issues before launch.

The launch was slated to occur about six weeks after an explosive mishap during the vehicle’s seventh test flight. The midair explosion on January 16 rained debris over the islands of Turks and Caicos.

The Federal Aviation Administration — which licenses commercial rocket launches — is overseeing an investigation into the incident, but on Friday gave SpaceX the green light to launch Flight 8. The agency noted that the probe into the Flight 7 mishap was ongoing, but the FAA determined SpaceX had “met all safety, environmental and other licensing requirements for the suborbital test flight,” according to a statement.

The Starship spacecraft, also known as the vehicle’s upper stage, is designed to ride to space atop a 71-meter-tall (232-foot-tall) rocket booster called Super Heavy. If the next launch attempt goes according to plan, after takeoff, the booster will fire for about 2 ½ minutes before it separates from the spacecraft.

The Super Heavy will then attempt to steer itself back toward a landing in the “chopstick” arms of SpaceX’s launch tower located near Brownsville, Texas, just north of the Mexican border.

SpaceX has so far successfully completed the booster catch maneuver twice.

The Starship craft will ignite its own engines, continuing on a suborbital trajectory.

SpaceX’s key test objectives for Starship’s eighth test flight are largely similar to those from January, since that flight ended prematurely. This mission’s goals include an attempt to reignite a Starship engine in space, testing how the vehicle will one day complete more complex missions to orbit.

About 17 ½ minutes into flight, Starship will also try for the first time to deploy a batch of mock Starlink satellites as part of a demonstration.

Like Starship, these demo payloads are not expected to reach orbit. Rather, the mock satellites will travel on a suborbital trajectory similar to that of the spacecraft, guaranteeing they will be discarded in the ocean, according to the company.

About one hour after takeoff, the Starship spacecraft is expected to make a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean. The maneuver aims to test out how Starship might be recovered after future flights. But as has been the case with prior test missions, the vehicle will not be recovered and left to a watery grave.

SpaceX was set to attempt to deploy dummy satellites during Starship’s seventh fully integrated test flight in January, but the ship — which debuted several major upgrades including a larger propellant tank — was destroyed less than 10 minutes into the mission.

In a statement, SpaceX said the Flight 7 explosion was probably caused by a leak in the aft — or rear — section of the vehicle, near a tank that holds super-chilled liquid oxygen, or LOX, a type of rocket propellant.

That leak likely led to an increase in pressure, and a fire broke out, the company said.

Vibrations caused by the sonic conditions of flight might have been the root cause of the issue, according to the statement.

SpaceX also said it lost contact with Starship before the vehicle broke apart, but postflight analysis determined that built-in safety systems “did trigger autonomously.” Rocket safety systems typically include software designed to blow up a malfunctioning vehicle to prevent large, damaging pieces of debris from reaching the ground.

The debris from the mishap triggered brief flight disruptions as air traffic controllers rerouted planes away from the explosion.

Apart from one vehicle that was struck on the island of South Caicos, no other instances of property damage or injury were reported.

However, residents of the archipelago of Turks and Caicos told CNN they found — and are still finding — debris from the spacecraft littering beaches and roadways. The local government worked with SpaceX to craft a debris recovery plan.

That plan was approved by the local government on February 13, according to a notice posted to social media. The contents of the strategy, however, were not provided, and it’s not clear who is paying for the cleanup effort.

Neither SpaceX nor the Turks and Caicos government responded to requests for comment.

SpaceX said in a statement that it implemented upgrades to Starship in response to the failed January test flight. The changes include new vents and a “purge system” designed to prevent a fire.

The company also said what mission teams learned prompted them to alter lines that feed fuel to some of the Starship’s engines, tweak propellant temperatures, and adjust the vehicle’s “operating thrust target” — or how much power SpaceX aims for the engines to generate during flight. — CNN