SpaceX Postpones First Starship Flight Since IPO After Engine Ignition Failure

The test flight of the Starship rocket by U.S. aerospace company SpaceX has been postponed just before liftoff.

Reuters, Bloomberg, and other news outlets reported that the 13th test flight of Starship, which was scheduled to take place at Starbase in Texas, U.S., on July 16 (local time), was aborted with only seconds remaining on the countdown.

It was confirmed that the launch was automatically aborted because some of the 33 main engines on the Starship failed to ignite.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, stated on X, "We plan to replace two engines for a successful flight," adding, "The most likely launch time is early next week."

Starship is a 124-meter-tall super-heavy launch vehicle developed by SpaceX. It is a crucial element for the company's future growth as it can carry more cargo and satellites than the existing Falcon 9.

SpaceX has invested 15 billion dollars (approximately 22.2 trillion won) in the development of Starship alone and has signed a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to use the rocket for lunar exploration missions.

However, SpaceX has discovered various defects, both large and small, during each of its 12 previous test launches.

Most recently, on May 22, one of the six main engines on the next-generation Starship V3 model failed to ignite, and the booster engine did not ignite sufficiently, leading to a failure in controlled landing.

This attempt drew significant attention from investors, as it was the first test launch of Starship since SpaceX's massive initial public offering (IPO) last month.

Following the news of the launch postponement, SpaceX's stock price fell 3% in after-hours trading.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.