SpaceX Starship V3 Launch Scrubbed by Last-Minute Glitch
SpaceX came within seconds of launching its most powerful rocket ever on Thursday evening, but a stubborn hydraulic pin kept the 407-foot Starship V3 firmly on the ground at the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas. The launch was called off around 7:37 p.m. EDT after the countdown stalled multiple times at the T-40 second mark.
According to AP News, the rocket — the first Version 3 (V3) of SpaceX’s Starship system — was poised to begin a suborbital test flight extending halfway around the world. But issues cropped up with the brand-new Pad 2, and the company ran out of time to resolve them.
The Technical Hiccup
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk quickly identified the culprit on his social media platform X. “The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract,” Musk wrote, as reported by Tesla Oracle. The pin was meant to release the quick-disconnect (QD) arm after propellant loading was complete, but it remained locked, preventing liftoff.
Dan Huot, of SpaceX communications, explained during the launch webcast that the team encountered multiple issues late in the countdown. “We’re learning a lot about these systems as we execute them for the first time, and we’re not able to basically troubleshoot all of these issues in those final seconds to get to launch,” Huot said, according to Space.com.
A Wet Dress Rehearsal
Despite the disappointment, the attempt was not a total loss. SpaceX successfully loaded a full tank of propellant — 11.5 million pounds (5,000 tonnes) — into the V3 Starship for the first time, effectively completing a wet dress rehearsal. “We were able to fully load the vehicles, and we’re going to take the time now, figure out what tripped us up before launch, and then actually get into a flight tomorrow,” Huot added.
Musk stated that if the pin issue can be fixed overnight, another launch attempt would be made on Friday, May 22, at approximately 5:30 p.m. CT (6:30 p.m. EDT), with a 90-minute launch window.
A New Era for Starship
The Starship V3 represents a dramatic overhaul from its predecessors. Standing 124 meters (407 feet) tall, it is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Its Super Heavy booster, equipped with 33 new Raptor-3 engines, produces approximately 18 million pounds of thrust — more than twice that of the Saturn V or the Space Launch System, as noted by Behind The Black.
This was the first launch attempt from Starbase’s new Pad 2, which features significant upgrades over the original pad. The V3 also introduces synchronized ignition of all 33 first-stage engines, a change from the staggered ignition used on previous versions.
High Stakes and Broader Context
The scrub came just one day after Musk announced that SpaceX would be going public, with the company valued at approximately $1.75 trillion. A successful launch would have served as a powerful demonstration of the company’s technological capabilities to potential investors.
NASA is also watching closely. The space agency is relying on the Starship V3 to land astronauts on the moon as part of the Artemis program, with a docking test in Earth orbit planned for mid-to-late 2027 and a crewed lunar landing on Artemis 4 in late 2028.
Adding to the drama, SpaceX announced on the day of the launch attempt a private crewed Mars flyby mission led by cryptocurrency billionaire Chun Wang, who previously financed the Fram2 polar spaceflight in 2025.
What’s Next
SpaceX engineers are working to resolve the hydraulic pin issue overnight. If successful, the next launch window opens Friday evening. However, if the problem cannot be fixed in time, the next opportunity may not come until after the Memorial Day weekend, due to beach closure restrictions at Starbase.
As Musk himself noted prior to the attempt, the company has a large pipeline of V3 ships and boosters in the factory. “Failure today will not affect schedule by more than a month or so,” he wrote on X, signaling confidence that this setback is merely a temporary delay on the path to the stars.