SpaceX Scrubs Starship Flight Again Amid Ground Systems Glitch

AUSTIN, Aug. 25 (Reuters) - SpaceX on Monday postponed its much-anticipated 10th test flight of the Starship megarocket after engineers detected a leak in the ground support equipment, marking the latest setback in the program’s drive to achieve reusability milestones.

Approximately 30 minutes before the scheduled 6:30 p.m. CDT liftoff from the Starbase launch complex in South Texas, SpaceX announced it was “standing down from today’s tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems,” tweeting that a “ground side liquid oxygen leak needs to be fixed”.

The towering Super Heavy booster, measuring 232 feet, remained mated to the 171-foot Starship upper stage on the launch mount as teams worked to address the cryogenic leak. Elon Musk indicated on X (formerly Twitter) that engineers are repairing the leak and aiming for another launch attempt “tomorrow”.

Starship has endured a string of failures in 2025, with three upper-stage explosions during flight tests in January, March and May, and a static-fire explosion in June. A successful 10th flight is critical for demonstrating the rocket’s capacity to deploy payloads, perform ocean landings and ultimately achieve full reusability at low cost in support of NASA’s upcoming lunar missions and Musk’s longer-term Mars ambitions.

SpaceX has reserved backup launch opportunities through at least Aug. 26 and cautioned that the timing for the next attempt remains “dynamic and likely to change”.

Key Facts

• Mission objective: Validate Starship’s integrated performance, including Super Heavy landing burn and Starship’s in-space engine relight.
• Previous test failures: Flight 7 and 8 ended in in-flight explosions; Flight 9 disintegrated during reentry; June static-fire test exploded on the pad.
• Next steps: Engineers to repair ground systems leak; new launch attempt targeted for Aug. 26 pending resolution of technical issues.