SpaceX halted its tenth integrated Starship test flight on Sunday evening, calling a scrub less than 40 minutes before the scheduled liftoff from Starbase in South Texas. The company cited a problem with ground-support equipment after pausing the countdown at T-39:55 and said engineers will troubleshoot before setting a new launch date. The 404-foot vehicle, comprising Ship 37 atop Super Heavy Booster 16, had begun propellant loading for a 6:45 p.m. local (23:45 UTC) launch. The uncrewed mission aimed to splash down both stages at sea, deploy eight Starlink satellite simulators, test alternative heat-shield tiles and evaluate a two-engine booster landing burn—objectives intended to advance the system toward full reusability. Earlier in the day, a Falcon 9 rocket successfully lofted the Dragon CRS-33 cargo ship from Cape Canaveral at 2:45 a.m. ET, marking the 50th Dragon flight and SpaceX’s 33rd resupply run for NASA. Dragon is carrying more than 5,000 pounds of food, equipment and science experiments, including a new reboost kit that will give the United States an operational capability to raise the International Space Station’s orbit, complementing Russian and Northrop Grumman vehicles. Docking is scheduled for Monday at 7:30 a.m. ET. Commercial launch activity remained brisk over the weekend. On Saturday, Rocket Lab’s Electron completed its 70th mission from Mahia, New Zealand, placing five satellites for an undisclosed customer into a 665-kilometre orbit, underscoring the expanding cadence of private-sector spaceflight.
SpaceX cancels Starship megarocket launch in latest setback https://t.co/VvXlaO18e5 https://t.co/JXdpu86ErV
And then it was a scrub due to ground equipment problems. We had huge fun today nonetheless! Thanks to everyone who participated! 🤘😁❤️ Next try (hopefully) tomorrow! 🤘 Still waiting for SpaceX’s confirmation of a new launch attempt date. 🙏 https://t.co/5vOjUveAzt https://t.co/BHGYOiV1kD
Here is a deeper look at the science and hardware the @SpaceX #Dragon is delivering to the Expedition 73 crew at 7:30 a.m. EDT on Monday. https://t.co/cWVblv2w42