SpaceX aborts high-altitude Starship test flight just 1 second away from launch

SpaceX had to abort the primary high-altitude test flight of its latest Starship SN8 prototype only one second faraway from launch.

The launch attempt happened late Tuesday afternoon at the launch site in Boca Chica, Texas, but just at the instant its three Raptor engines were alleged to ignite to send the prototype spacecraft skyward, Mission Control called out: “Raptor abort.”

SpaceX is yet to publicly reveal why the mission was aborted, though it confirmed during its livestream of the event that the launch team was standing down for the day, ending any hopes of a flight test happening on Tuesday.

When the launch eventually takes place, hopefully within the coming days, the Starship prototype will plan to make its highest flight so far , to an altitude of around 50,000 feet, before returning and landing back on the bottom within the same way that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 boosters are doing for years. That’s some 15,000 feet above a passenger plane usually flies.

According to SpaceX, the prototype’s first suborbital flight is meant to check variety of objectives, “from how the vehicle’s three Raptor engines perform and therefore the overall aerodynamic entry capabilities of the vehicle, including its body flaps, to how the vehicle manages propellant transition. SN8 also will plan to perform a landing flip maneuver, which might be a primary for a vehicle of this size.”

Once the Starship technology is prepared , SpaceX aims to launch the spacecraft — which also acts as a second-stage booster — atop the huge first-stage Super Heavy rocket, which is powered by 31 Raptor engines.

The ultimate goal is to use the Starship and Super Heavy rocket as a totally reusable space transportation capable of carrying as many as 100 people plus cargo to Earth orbit, the moon, Mars, and possibly beyond.