SpaceX aborts major test launch of giant Starship rocket
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This screen grab from a SpaceX live webcast shows the Starship rocket just as the launch from Starbase in Texas was aborted on July 16.
PHOTO: AFP
NEW YORK – SpaceX said it will aim to launch its Starship rocket again in a few days after aborting the mission on July 16 when some of its engines failed to fire up, sending the company’s shares lower.
Starship was slated to take off on its 13th major mission from SpaceX’s South Texas launch facility, called Starbase, at 5.45pm local time.
But at the planned lift-off time, plumes of smoke erupted from the launch tower and the rocket remained in place.
Chief executive Elon Musk said the engine failure triggered an automatic launch abort alert and the company was in the process of offloading propellant.
“We’ll dig in with the teams, figure out what happened and figure out when our next attempt is going to be,” said SpaceX communications manager Dan Huot.
While not uncommon in rocketry, the delay amounts to another, albeit minor, setback for a spacecraft central to Musk’s ambitions to put data centres in space, expand the Starlink communications network and send humans to the Moon and Mars.
Starship has faced a rocky development path marred by explosive setbacks, malfunctions and delays.
The Starship test was meant to be the rocket’s first since SpaceX’s blockbuster initial public offering in June that raised some US$86 billion (S$111 billion).
SpaceX shares fell about 3 per cent post-market after closing down in regular trading on July 16. The stock soared shortly after the company’s IPO but more recently has slumped. Despite the decline, Wall Street analysts still remain largely bullish on the stock.
Musk’s company has designed Starship to be fully reusable, something no other rocket maker has achieved, with both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship spacecraft intended to return to Earth intact after each launch so they can fly to space again.
Musk has predicted that SpaceX could achieve full reusability with the upgraded V3 rocket before the end of 2026. SpaceX has spent more than US$15 billion developing Starship.
SpaceX holds US$4 billion worth of National Aeronautics and Space Administration contracts for Starship to land astronauts on the Moon as soon as 2028.
To do so, SpaceX will have to refuel the vehicle in space, launch it a dozen times or more in a row and ensure the vehicle is safe to hold humans – a demanding list of tasks for a vehicle that has yet to complete a full orbital mission. BLOOMBERG