On Thursday, July 16, 2026, SpaceX's Starship rocket aborted its liftoff less than a second before the planned 6:45 p.m. ET launch from Starbase, Texas. The automated hold was triggered as the booster began igniting its Raptor engines, halting the mission which was the 13th flight test attempt.

SpaceX spokesperson Dan Huot, speaking on the company's live stream, confirmed the hold: "We did trigger a hold on the booster that aborted our liftoff as we were starting to light those Raptor engines." He added that the company will investigate the cause of the abort and determine the next steps: "We'll take some time, dig into what triggered that abort once the booster was igniting to launch, and then we'll figure out what our path forward is going to be."

The postponement delays the mission by at least 24 hours as SpaceX studies the likely cause of the automated scrub.

Sources

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