SpaceX cancels latest Starship launch due to bad weather

Bad weather forced SpaceX to postpone the launch of its Starship rocket prototype on Monday (25), which is crucial to Elon Musk's aspirations to colonize Mars, as well as NASA's plans to take astronauts back to the Moon.

The tenth test flight, which could now take place on Tuesday, comes at a time of increased scrutiny for the world's most powerful launch vehicle after a series of failures that are starting to raise questions about its viability.

Standing 400 feet tall, the stainless steel behemoth was ready for takeoff from the company's Starbase in South Texas in a window that opened at 6:30 p.m. local time (8:30 p.m. Brasília time).

It is the second delay in two days, after a leak in the ground system thwarted a previous attempt on Sunday.

The mission's objective is to subject the upper stage, ultimately intended to carry crew and cargo, to structural stress tests as it flies halfway around the world before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

SpaceX will also test new heat shield materials and attempt to launch simulated Starlink satellites as payload.

The company's aggressive "fail fast, learn fast" approach has earned it an undisputed leadership in space launches thanks to its Falcon family of rockets.

Its Dragon capsules are the only American spacecraft carrying astronauts to the International Space Station, while Starlink has become a geopolitical asset.

Yet concern grows over whether these successes will translate to Starship, a rocket unlike any before it. The upper stage exploded on all three test flights in 2025.

Even if the tenth flight is successful, there are still major obstacles ahead.

"There are thousands of engineering challenges remaining for both Starship and the booster, but perhaps the biggest is developing a fully reusable orbital heat shield," Musk, its founder, said in an online broadcast.

Additionally, delays to Starship could affect NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return American astronauts to the Moon by mid-2027 using a modified version of Starship as a landing vehicle.