SpaceX Reschedules Starship Test Flight After Last-Minute Delay, Targets Thursday Launch

Boca Chica, Texas – SpaceX is now targeting Thursday for its next Starship test flight after a last-minute cancellation earlier this week. The massive launch vehicle, considered the world’s most powerful rocket, is set to lift off from the Starbase facility in Texas during a launch window opening at 5:30 PM local time (2330 GMT).

This mission marks Starship’s eighth orbital test, all of which have been uncrewed so far. It is also the first flight since the dramatic mid-air explosion over the Caribbean in January that saw the upper stage disintegrate, prompting cleanup efforts for debris across the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Starship: Key to SpaceX’s Mars and NASA’s Lunar Missions

Standing at an imposing 403 feet (123 meters)—roughly 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty—Starship is designed to be fully reusable, a crucial step in SpaceX’s vision of colonizing Mars.

Additionally, NASA is awaiting a modified version of Starship to serve as the lunar lander for the Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon within this decade.

FAA and Regulatory Scrutiny

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had grounded Starship after the January 16 test failure, citing safety and environmental concerns. However, last Friday, the FAA gave SpaceX conditional clearance to proceed with the next launch, even though the agency has yet to finalize its mishap investigation.

SpaceX has frequently clashed with regulators, with Elon Musk previously accusing the FAA of excessive oversight during Joe Biden’s presidency. Now, under President Donald Trump’s administration, Musk faces accusations of wielding undue influence over regulatory agencies, particularly the FAA, which recently saw hundreds of staff layoffs, according to a union report.

What to Expect in Thursday’s Test Flight

For this test, SpaceX has introduced several upgrades aimed at improving the rocket’s reliability and performance. The one-hour-long mission will include:

• Another attempt to "catch" the booster stage using the launch tower's "chopstick" arms—a technique that SpaceX has successfully executed twice before.
• Deployment of Starlink simulators, which will burn up upon re-entry, mimicking real Starlink satellites.
• A planned splashdown of the upper stage in the Indian Ocean, similar to previous test flights.

Musk recently highlighted that one of SpaceX’s biggest engineering challenges remains designing a “fully reusable orbital heat shield,” something that no spacecraft has ever achieved before.

Despite these hurdles, Musk remains optimistic, predicting that Starship will achieve full and rapid reusability by next year—a milestone he calls the "fundamental breakthrough required for life to be multiplanetary."

With NASA’s Moon missions, Mars ambitions, and commercial space travel all hinging on Starship’s success, Thursday’s test flight will be another critical step in SpaceX’s high-stakes journey.