Elon Musk Says SpaceX Starship’s Second Launch Attempt Imminent

SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket is fully stacked and awaiting approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for a second launch attempt, according to SpaceX and the company's owner, Elon Musk.

The Starship rocket — billed as the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed — made its first launch attempt in April 2023. The rocket successfully took off from SpaceX’s launch facility in Boca Chica, Texas, but started to tumble about a minute later, forcing its operators to issue a self-destruct command.

On Tuesday night, Musk posted on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, to confirm the launch attempt is imminent pending the FAA's go-ahead.

The FAA has not issued a report on data from the April 2023 explosion, which was apparently caused by problems with the mega-rocket's engines and booster. The agency told The Messenger that the SpaceX Starship mishap investigation remains open. 

"The FAA will not authorize another Starship launch until SpaceX implements the corrective actions identified during the mishap investigation and demonstrates compliance with all the regulatory requirements of the license modification process," an FAA spokesperson told The Messenger.

The corrective actions alluded to in the response could take an indeterminate length of time to complete. There was no update on the timeline for the investigation and any subsequent action for SpaceX to take.

Starship is located at the SpaceX Starbase in Texas. The fully stacked rocket includes the Booster 9 "Super Heavy" first stage and the Starship 25 upper stage. It will carry no payload for the test flight, but if it does become operational, the reusable rocket is designed to lift about 100 tons of cargo and 100 people into space.

Eventually, Elon Musk hopes to use Starship to take a crew to Mars and establish a permanent crewed base on the Red Planet. But before that dream is realized, SpaceX's rocket has been tapped to help ferry astronauts to the moon in future NASA missions as part of contracts worth billions of dollars.