Issues with Starship lead SpaceX to cancel the test flight at the last moment.

      SpaceX was scheduled to conduct another test of its powerful rocket last night, but the launch was canceled just a minute before liftoff. Now, the eighth test flight of the Starship will be delayed for at least a day as engineers address issues with the rocket.

      The Starship was set to launch from SpaceX’s Starbase in Texas at 6:30 p.m. ET (3:30 p.m. PT) on Monday, March 3, with the rocket fueled and ready on the launch pad. However, the countdown was halted at T-40 seconds, and SpaceX reported problems that may involve both the first stage (the Super Heavy booster) and the upper stage (the Ship).

      While the company hasn’t provided specifics about the issue, it did state in an update, “Standing down from today’s flight test attempt. The Starship team is determining the next best available opportunity to fly.”

      SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also mentioned on X that there were “[t]oo many question marks about this flight” and that ground control detected “20 bar low on ground spin start pressure.” Musk indicated that they would remove the upper stage from the lower stage for inspection and then attempt the test flight again “in a day or two.”

      This launch had already been postponed from its initially planned date of Friday, February 28. The prior Starship test, flight number seven, resulted in the rocket exploding mid-air, with debris falling to the ground and causing some flight diversions. The current version of Starship includes significant upgrades from previous iterations that had successfully completed test flights, including the recovery of the Super Heavy booster. However, this configuration has not yet accomplished its intended mission of flying a suborbital trajectory and deploying test payloads, as well as the complex re-entry procedure.

      SpaceX disclosed that the explosion during the seventh test flight was caused by vibrating rhythmic oscillations that led to propellant leaks, resulting in a fire in an area referred to as the "attic." To resolve this issue, the Starship version for the eighth test has been fitted with new propellant feed lines designed to withstand oscillations and improved attic venting to prevent propellant accumulation.

      A new time and date for the eighth test flight has not yet been announced.

      SpaceX has been preparing its rocket hardware for the eighth flight of the Starship megarocket. The company shared striking images and videos of the 33 Raptor engines on the first-stage Super Heavy booster igniting while still grounded.

      Furthermore, activity at SpaceX’s Starbase site in Boca Chica, Texas, indicates swift progress towards the eighth test of the powerful Starship, which consists of the first-stage Super Heavy booster and the second-stage Starship spacecraft. Recently released images show the Super Heavy booster being transported to the launchpad.

      With former President Donald Trump back in office, Elon Musk has expressed renewed optimism about sending the first humans to Mars before the decade’s end. In his inauguration speech on Monday, President Trump mentioned that his administration “will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.”