SpaceX's tenth Starship test flight postponed due to ground system issues

SpaceX's tenth Starship test flight did not proceed as planned today.

Originally scheduled to launch from the Starship base in South Texas at 7:30 PM ET on August 24, Starship-10 was canceled 17 minutes before the launch window opened.

SpaceX announced earlier today on its social media platform, X, that "Starship's tenth flight was suspended today to allow time to troubleshoot a ground system issue." The company has now announced a new launch date, aiming for a launch as early as Monday, August 25, with a launch window opening at 6:30 PM CT.

Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, towering over 400 feet (122 meters) when fully assembled. It consists of two parts, both designed to be fully and rapidly reusable—a booster called the Super Heavy Booster and an upper-stage spacecraft called Starship (or simply "the Ship").

SpaceX is developing Starship to support missions such as returning humans to the Moon and settling on Mars. NASA has selected the rocket as the first crewed lunar lander for its Artemis program and plans to use Starship to send astronauts to Earth's nearest neighbor as early as 2027.

However, Starship still has a long way to go before it can carry out such missions. To date, the massive rocket has conducted nine test flights, all of which launched from Starship Base.

Three test flights took place this year, in January, March, and May. In all three launches, Starship encountered serious problems: on the seventh and eighth flights, it exploded less than 10 minutes after launch; on the ninth flight, it disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

The objectives for the tenth flight will be similar to those of the ninth. SpaceX plans to land the Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico approximately 6.5 minutes after launch and guide the Starship to a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia approximately an hour after launch.

In addition, Starship is scheduled to deploy simulated versions of eight SpaceX Starlink internet satellites during its flight and conduct an engine reignition test in space.