SpaceX calls off Starship's 10th test flight, Elon Musk explains reason behind the delay

Elon Musk's SpaceX called off the tenth test flight of its Starship over an issue with ground systems. The company took to microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter) to share the update. “Standing down from today's tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems,” SpaceX’s post reads. The 232-foot Super Heavy booster and the 171-foot Starship spacecraft were stacked together on the launch pad at SpaceX’s Starbase site and being filled with fuel ahead of a planned 7:35 p.m. ET (2335 GMT) liftoff.


About 30 minutes before launch, however, SpaceX posted on X that it was standing down to fix a problem with the ground systems.


Elon Musk explains reason behind Starship delay
Sharing a post on X, Musk wrote “Ground side liquid oxygen leak needs to be fixed. Aiming for another launch attempt tomorrow.” Interestingly, this is not the first time that a SpaceX launch has been delayed due to liquid oxygen leak. Its Falcon 9 rocket, part of the AX-4 launch in collaboration with NASA and Axiom Space, was also delayed due to propellant leaks in June this year.


SpaceX has now rescheduled launch on August 25 at 6:30 p.m. CT.