Musk: 10th Starship/Superheavy launch in “about three weeks”
According to a very short tweet Elon Musk posted on July 15, 2025, SpaceX will attempt the 10th orbital test flight of Starship/Superheavy in “about three weeks.”
Musk however provided little information. This is the full text of his tweet:
Launching again in ~3 weeks
The lack of information raises more questions than it answers. For example, how is SpaceX replacing the destroyed Starship that blew up during a static fire test in June on its Massey test stand at Boca Chica? I assume it is using another prototype already in the assembly line, but will it be a version 2 prototype that the company has flown on the past three flights that failed each time after stage separation from Superheavy? Or has SpaceX dumped the prototypes of version 2 and shifted directly to version 3 because of those failures?
How is it going to do its Starship prelaunch static fire tests? Has it gotten its Massey test stand repaired that quickly, or has it found other options? Earlier reports suggested fixing the stand would take much longer. Furthermore, there was the question of fixing it for version 2 or version 3, which require different configurations. Fixing it for version 2 suggested this would delay bringing version 3 on line.
This tweet raises more questions than it answers. However, if Musk is even close to correct than many of these questions will be answered in only a week or two, since that is when prelaunch static fire test must begin.
According to a very short tweet Elon Musk posted on July 15, 2025, SpaceX will attempt the 10th orbital test flight of Starship/Superheavy in “about three weeks.”
Musk however provided little information. This is the full text of his tweet:
Launching again in ~3 weeks
The lack of information raises more questions than it answers. For example, how is SpaceX replacing the destroyed Starship that blew up during a static fire test in June on its Massey test stand at Boca Chica? I assume it is using another prototype already in the assembly line, but will it be a version 2 prototype that the company has flown on the past three flights that failed each time after stage separation from Superheavy? Or has SpaceX dumped the prototypes of version 2 and shifted directly to version 3 because of those failures?
How is it going to do its Starship prelaunch static fire tests? Has it gotten its Massey test stand repaired that quickly, or has it found other options? Earlier reports suggested fixing the stand would take much longer. Furthermore, there was the question of fixing it for version 2 or version 3, which require different configurations. Fixing it for version 2 suggested this would delay bringing version 3 on line.
This tweet raises more questions than it answers. However, if Musk is even close to correct than many of these questions will be answered in only a week or two, since that is when prelaunch static fire test must begin.