Starship setback won’t stop 2026 launch plan, SpaceX says

SpaceX has suffered a setback as it prepares to launch the mighty Starship rocket for the 12th time.

The upcoming launch is notable for being the first to test a new, more advanced version of the first-stage Super Heavy booster. But in ground-based testing on Friday, an issue occurred with the first stage, known as Booster 18.

“Booster 18 suffered an anomaly during gas system pressure testing that we were conducting in advance of structural proof testing,” SpaceX said in a post on X. 

It added that no propellant was on the vehicle at the time, and the rocket’s engines were not installed at that point. 

SpaceX said that its team requires more time to investigate what happened before it can be certain about what caused the anomaly.

Despite the hiccup, the Elon Musk-led company said it’s still planning to conduct ground-based testing this month and have the upper-stage Ship stacked on top of the Super Heavy before the end of the year.

Importantly, it also confirmed that it’s still aiming to perform the first launch of the Starship version 3 — and the 12th launch overall — in the first quarter of next year. 

The third version of the Super Heavy has a larger capacity than the previous design, allowing it to carry heavier payloads to orbit. It’ll also be about five feet taller (1.5 meters) than its predecessor, and come with new docking adapters for in-orbit fuel transfer, a procedure that’s vital for Starship flights to the moon and beyond.

The testing is taking place at SpaceX’s Starbase site in southern Texas, which has launched all 11 Starship flights to date.

The first of these, which took place in April 2023, only lasted about four minutes when the rocket lost control and had its flight terminated.

Since then, the Starship flights have produced mixed results, though the most recent one last month was deemed its most successful yet, with SpaceX meeting many of its mission objectives.

NASA has contracted SpaceX to use a modified version of the upper-stage Ship to land two astronauts on the moon in the Artemis III mission, which is currently set for 2027, though with much rocket testing still to be completed, that date could slip.