SpaceX to Launch New Test Flight of Starship Rocket

SpaceX has announced plans for a new test flight of its massive Starship rocket, scheduled for Sunday, August 24, from its Texas launch site.

The spacecraft, designed for future missions to the Moon and Mars, will embark on its tenth trial following a series of previous attempts that failed due to mid-flight explosions.

The Elon Musk–owned company confirmed on its official website that this new test will be the latest milestone for the largest rocket ever built. 

Starship’s earlier trials this year faced significant technical setbacks, with the first two flights ending in dramatic explosions of the upper stage above the Caribbean Sea shortly after launch.

In a third attempt in late May, Starship successfully reached space but disintegrated before completing its mission, after a fuel leak caused the company to lose control of the vehicle. The rocket’s booster suffered a similar fate, breaking apart before hitting the water instead of being retrieved by the giant mechanical arms designed for a precision capture in the Gulf of Mexico.

These setbacks have not deterred SpaceX, which has long embraced a high-risk strategy of launching multiple prototypes to identify and resolve technical problems. Such failures, while costly, are considered part of the company’s iterative development process.

However, the repeated malfunctions, including a ground-test explosion in June, have raised concerns about the pace of progress in the Starship program. Despite these obstacles, Musk remains publicly optimistic, insisting that the spacecraft will be ready to conduct its first crewed missions to Mars as early as 2026.