The eighth Starship spacecraft test flight from Boca Chica, Texas, encountered another postponement on Monday evening shortly before its planned launch. Engineers discovered multiple problems with the Super Heavy booster of the rocket, so SpaceX decided to cancel the launch attempt.
CEO Elon Musk expressed doubts about the upcoming flight while pointing out a pressure problem in the ground spin start system. According to him, the best course was to separate the stages first, then check them both before attempting another launch in two days.
The rocket operation faces another delay following the mid-air explosion of its upper stage during the previous test in January. The rocket explosion occurred because violent oscillations created a propellant leak, which started fires that disabled most of the rocket engines. The Super Heavy booster successfully returned to the ground while the upper stage suffered a loss during the test flight. This resulted in a partial mission success.
SpaceX took several preventive measures to avoid future failure, including better ventilation of the Starship attic space to reduce fire hazards and changes to fuel line design and engine thrust values and propellant temperatures.
SpaceX intends to send four dummy Starlink satellites into space after the vehicle reaches a suborbital altitude while testing its orbital engine relight capabilities. Technical obstacles persist, which makes it unclear when SpaceX will conduct its next launch attempt.
SpaceX has scheduled a Thursday launch attempt, yet the unpredictable nature of spaceflight could push the launch back further. All attention remains focused on SpaceX’s ability to execute its challenging test flight program while Starship encounters ongoing difficulties.
