SpaceX Plans to Launch Starship Flight 10 in Early August, Elon Musk Says

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk believes that the firm can fly Starship Flight 10 in three weeks. Musk's comments are the first time he has mentioned the next Starship flight after the upper stage designated to fly on the mission exploded last month. The accident not only destroyed the rocket but it also extensively damaged SpaceX's ground testing facilities built exclusively for upper-stage testing. Since then, while the firm has started repairing the test site, it has also begun converting a transport stand to a test stand in order to speed up testing and launch the fourth Starship mission of 2025.

SpaceX's previous Starship test flight was in May, which occurred more than two months after Flight 8, which was the second time the firm's second generation failed to meet all of its test objectives. Starship Flight 7 and Flight 8 both saw the ship explode soon after separating from the first stage. SpaceX later explained that the explosions were due to vibrations in the propellant system during Flight 7 and troubles with the Raptor engines during Flight 8.

After Flight 8, the firm appeared to be preparing for a quick Flight 10 as it static fired the first stage booster and lit up a single engine on the second stage as part of a test for an in-space engine ignition. However, the firm was dealt a major setback in June when the upper stage intended to fly on Flight 10 exploded during propellant loading ahead of a static fire test.

After the explosion, SpaceX started to rebuild the ground test facilities and customized a transport stand to function as a test pad at the launch site. The thrust of the Starship booster and the ship's engines means that SpaceX has to use a water deflector to protect the test sites from damage. With the ship's ground testing facilities currently decommissioned, SpaceX will use the launch pad's water deluge system as an alternative and use the modified transport stand to mount the rocket for testing.

According to Musk, Starship will be \"Launching again in ~3 weeks.\" The executive shared the timeline on X to suggest that Starship Flight 10 could occur by the end of August's first week. Until then, SpaceX has to test-fire another upper-stage rocket to ensure it does not experience any anomalies and build the test pad for the ship.

Footage from local media shows that SpaceX is rapidly progressing with the launch pad testing facilities. Once SpaceX static fires the ship, the test pad will be removed, and the launch site will be prepared for a full Starship stack. Starship Flight 10 should build on Flight 9's test objectives and see SpaceX attempt a controlled reentry of the upper stage ship as well as evaluate new heat shield tiles and hardware for an eventual tower catch.