SpaceX suspends new Starship test at last second

Cape Canaveral, Florida – The first high-altitude test flight of the Starship of SpaceX it was canceled at the last minute in Texas on Tuesday.

SpaceX was about to launch a prototype of the rocket that the company’s founder Elon Musk is designing to transport people to Mars. The goal was to launch the Starship to an altitude of 8 miles – the highest yet – and then return the spacecraft for a vertical landing.

But an engine automatically aborted with just 1.3 seconds left in the countdown. SpaceX said in its webcast that it was all for the day and did not indicate when a new attempt would be made.

SpaceX has already conducted five test flights of the Starship, but those previous, simpler models have not climbed more than 490 feet. The steel version on Tuesday’s launch pad is the first with a cone nose, body flaps and three Raptor engines.

SpaceX has a facility in Boca Chica, in the extreme southeast of Texas along the border with Mexico, to build and test its Starships. The company plans to use the Starship rockets – the stage on the Super Heavy boosters – to put large satellites into orbit and to send people and cargo to the moon and Mars.

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