SpaceX scrubbed the launch of its Starship system on Monday after anomalies started piling up in the final few minutes. An undisclosed issue with the booster that seemed to be resolved as the countdown continued was compounded by some other problems that cropped up soon after, and company founder Elon Musk said it was “best to destack, inspect both stages and try again in a day or two.” It would have been the first attempt after SpaceX had to blow up the previous top stage over the Caribbean in January. Despite the fiery prequel to Monday’s attempt, SpaceX isn’t taking a cautious approach.
With this test, the company is testing the quick rotation of launch vehicles it envisions as the future of the commercial launch business and had only “stacked” the stages a few hours before the late afternoon launch window. That meant there could be none of the drills and rehearsals that precede most launches. “We really want to get to a point where we can fly rapidly, fly as quickly as possible,” Dan Huot said. “And so this is definitely a case to try and push that forward.”
