SpaceX's newest and biggest Starship will have to wait at least another day before launching on a test flight from Texas, as a series of last-minute problems halted the countdown on Thursday evening.
The 407-foot (124-meter) rocket was poised to begin a space-skimming journey from Starbase near the Mexican border, extending halfway around the world. However, issues cropped up with the brand-new launch pad, and the company ran out of time.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk later explained that the hydraulic pin holding the launch tower's arm in place did not retract. If the problem can be fixed quickly, another launch attempt may be made on Friday, he noted.
Thursday's launch attempt came one day after Musk announced his rocket company would be going public. The Starship holds 20 mock Starlink satellites to be released before the spacecraft's controlled entry into the Indian Ocean at the end of the hourlong flight. This will be the 12th test flight for a Starship and the first since last fall.
NASA is relying on this latest version of Starship to land astronauts on the moon in a few years.
