SpaceX is pressing ahead with a second attempt to launch its Super Heavy–Starship rocket on Monday evening from its Starbase complex on the Texas Gulf Coast, aiming for the program’s 10th integrated test flight. A planned liftoff on Sunday was called off when ground hardware malfunctioned, but engineers corrected the issue and are now counting down to a 7:30 p.m. EDT departure. Technicians replaced a damaged liquid-oxygen line on the vehicle’s quick-disconnect arm, returned the stack to the launch cradle known as “Mechazilla” and began propellant-loading checks. The chopstick arms are again in the launch position as controllers move through final milestones roughly three hours before launch. The mission is designed to validate modifications introduced after three consecutive flight losses earlier this year. Plans call for deliberately shutting down engines on the Super Heavy booster before a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, while the Starship upper stage flies halfway around the planet to a controlled descent into the Indian Ocean. Along the way, SpaceX intends to restart a Raptor engine in space and release eight Starlink simulator satellites. Demonstrating these capabilities is critical to certifying a Starship variant that NASA has selected to ferry astronauts to the lunar surface on the Artemis III mission targeted for 2027.
SpaceX hopes to pick up the pace with Super Heavy-Starship test flights amid concern the rocket may not be ready in time for a planned 2027 moon landing. https://t.co/QO0a5uP9PX
Chopsticks are in the launch position. T – 3 hours. https://t.co/1Dc8hs3dXf
The chopsticks are in launch position ahead of Starship Flight 10. Pic from @NASASpaceflight. https://t.co/2jfuJximkz