Elon Musk on SpaceX’s next Starship launch: ‘Too many question marks…’

Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX called off the latest test flight of its most powerful Starship rocket that was set to lift off from SpaceX's Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas, US. Delayed due to technical concerns, the company soon announced that it is postponing the launch. Musk, who is the founder and CEO of SpaceX, took to X to reply to the announcement.
SpaceX said in a post on the social media platform X (earlier Twitter) that the team will be inspecting the technical issue before a new launch attempt in a day or two.
The tech billionaire reshared the post saying that there were "too many question marks" about the flight and low pressure for the ground spin start system.
Take a look at the post here
Announcing the postponement of the Starship launch, the company wrote: “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt. Starship team is determining the next best available opportunity to fly.”
Replying to this, the company’s CEO Musk said: “Too many question marks about this flight and then we were 20 bar low on ground spin start pressure. Best to destack, inspect both stages and try again in a day or two.”


In a live stream, SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot mentioned that the next attempt may occur in nearly 24 hours. However, the company didn’t announce an official new date of the launch.
This will be Starship's eighth orbital test flight and its first since a mid-air explosion over the Caribbean in January. The 403-foot (123-meter) rocket is a cornerstone of Musk's long-term vision to reduce space travel costs and enable Mars missions.
Furthermore, a modified version of Starship is expected to support NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon.
The US FAA grounded Starship after its January test flight, during which the upper stage disintegrated over the Turks and Caicos Islands, scattering debris. Despite this incident, the FAA has allowed SpaceX to continue launches while the mishap investigation is still underway. The failure also led to flight diversions over the Gulf of Mexico, as the rocket lost contact eight minutes after liftoff, sending debris over Haiti.

According to a report by AFP, SpaceX's upcoming test flight includes upgrades to the upper stage for improved reliability and performance. The roughly one-hour mission will again attempt to catch the booster using the launch tower's "chopstick" arms—a maneuver previously executed twice.
Additionally, the flight will deploy Starlink simulators designed to mimic next-generation satellites that burn up upon re-entry, while targeting an ocean splashdown off Australia’s west coast instead of recovering the upper stage.