SpaceX has scrubbed the first launch of its third-generation Starship rocket system from its headquarters in Starbase, Texas. The company is expected to make another attempt on Friday.
It’s a crucial launch for the company — and not just because it’s the first real test of the upgraded Starship V3 hardware; it also comes at a pivotal moment for SpaceX financially. The company recently filed for an IPO and is expected to go public within weeks, putting added pressure on SpaceX to demonstrate that its next-generation rocket program is making meaningful progress.
This launch — Starship’s 12th — will mark the first flight of Starship since the company’s last attempt in October 2025. SpaceX has spent the interim months working on developing and testing this third version of Starship, which has encountered a few problems. In November, for example, one of the first V3 boosters suffered an explosion during testing.
The company pushed back the Thursday liftoff a number of times and ultimately tried to send the rocket into space near the end of its expected launch window. Starship and its massive rocket booster were fully fueled, and the countdown dipped under T-40 seconds, but issues with the various rocket and launchpad systems caused the company to re-cycle the countdown multiple times.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X that the “hydraulic pin holding the [launch] tower arm in place did not retract,” and added that the company will try again on Friday at 5:30 p.m. local time if the issue “can be fixed tonight.”
This new version of Starship represents a massive upgrade in vehicle design and how the company’s launchpad infrastructure works. One of the bigger changes were to SpaceX’s third-generation Raptor engines, which put more thrust in a streamlined design. The third-gen Starship booster is suppos …