SpaceX halted the launch of its Starship rocket seconds before liftoff during its 13th test flight, according to reports from Index and Novi list. The automatic stop occurred because a portion of the engine failed to ignite, Elon Musk announced on the X platform.
The rocket was scheduled to launch at 18:45 local time from Starbase, SpaceX’s development centre in southern Texas. “We stopped the engine as the Raptor engines were starting to ignite,” said a company spokesperson during the live broadcast, noting that SpaceX would first investigate the cause of the interruption before deciding on the next steps.
Fuel was drained from the rocket following the abort. Musk stated on X that the company is aiming for a new attempt “in a few days,” with the launch rescheduled for the following week to allow time to determine the cause of the ignition failure.
