Tenth Starship/Superheavy launch scrubbed due to ground equipment issue
SpaceX today scrubbed the tenth orbital test launch of its Starship/Superheavy rocket due to an issue with ground equipment,
The launch has been rescheduled for August 25, 2025, with a launch window opening at 6:30 pm (Central), Live stream here.
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With the milkstool having been modified into an ersatz static test stand—what with hold-downs aplenty—it might be that they wanted to make double sure there wasn’t a snag.
“Billy-Bob? You did remove all the tie-downs, right?”
“Yeah yeah…sure-sure…..zzzzzz”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiYXBbqKjPU
Weather looks good this evening.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/south-padre-island/78597/hourly-weather-forecast/341034
This also throws off any boat protesters trying to get onto the exclusion zone.
From Grok: “Posts on X further specify that the leak was identified in the LOX fill/drain flex hose on the SQD arm, which connects the launch tower to the Starship upper stage for propellant loading. Crews replaced the faulty flex hose overnight, targeting a launch attempt on Monday, August 25, 2025. ”
These failures are worrying in that once Starship is in LEO there is very little room for error involving leaking fuel pipes or any other sort of problem.
“These failures are worrying” . Not at all. They are finding out what can go wrong and fixing it so it doesn’t happen again.
Nobody has built a fully reusable two stage orbital rocket before so the whole program is highly experimental. They have made good progress so far, including exploring the boundaries of the envelope.
The part that was leaking was staying on the ground, not going to orbit.
Steve Richter,
You wrote: “These failures are worrying in that once Starship is in LEO there is very little room for error involving leaking fuel pipes or any other sort of problem.”
Fortunately, this leak was on the ground equipment, not the flight hardware. However, a leak on test 9’s flight hardware was responsible for its loss of control, the subsequent cancellation of the engine relight test, the test of the “Pez” satellite dispenser, and the failed reentry.
One of Musk’s philosophies is: the best part is no part. This is why each Raptor engine iteration has fewer parts. A corollary to that philosophy is: if you don’t have to add parts back on, then you didn’t remove enough parts. It is his way of finding the optimum parts needed for success. Flight 6 was fairly successful, so the losses of the past three flights are due to the version 2 (block 2) redesign, so clearly they have taken off too many parts and made the rocket not as successful. Putting parts back on is their way of finding the optimum. It may be taking extra time, but it is making a better Starship for future use.
Gary do not quit your day job.
Another scrub.
R-7 took lightning strikes—sat and burned….but a diaphanous anvil cloud scares Boca.
John,
;)
At 10 this morning, things looked great!
“… Not at all. They are finding out what can go wrong and fixing it so it doesn’t happen again. …”
ok. So the part that failed this time was the hose/pipe through which LOX flows into Starship. Doesn’t it make sense to test that part in isolation? Pump LOX into a Starship size tank every day until it fails? What do I know.
The thing that is really worrying is that Starship eventually gets into LEO. At which time Starship is refueled by multiple tanker ships and the engines are ignited again so that the ship can travel to Mars. That exposes a whole new set of not yet tested parts. But an explosive failure while in orbit will be unprecedented and how destructive? Starship might not be permitted to ever fly again.
Jeff Wright,
Apollo 12’s Saturn 5 took lightning strikes going uphill too. That doesn’t make it something one should wish to do if avoidable.
The US is fortunate that its busiest spaceport is below 30 degrees north latitude and none of the others are above 37 degrees north latitude. The Russkies pretty much have to be able to launch in crummier weather because they get a lot more of it given that all of their spaceports are located above 45 degrees north latitude. Vostochny is in Siberia above 51 degrees north latitude. Plesetsk is above 62 degrees north latitude – within spitting distance of the Arctic Circle.
The way things are currently going in Russia, though, launch weather is looking to be pretty well in freefall down the list of priority concerns. And once Russia dies, of course, it won’t be launching any more rockets anyway regardless of weather.
Looks like they turned the corner with block 2
Was that a range safety charge that cooked off?
Landing burn was fine.