SpaceX abruptly halted the launch of its Starship rocket on Thursday, just moments before its 13th test flight from Texas, after several engines failed to fire as expected.
According to Reuters, the abort happened less than a second before the scheduled liftoff from Starbase, SpaceX’s facility in south Texas. The rocket’s engines ignited but shut down almost immediately afterward, triggering an automatic halt to the launch sequence.
“We triggered a booster abort that canceled our liftoff as we were starting to light the Raptor engines,” company representative Dan Huot said during SpaceX’s live broadcast shortly after the postponement.
CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X that some of the engines failed to start, causing an automatic launch abort. He added that two Raptor engines would be removed and replaced to ensure a successful flight, with a new launch attempt expected early next week.
The news had an immediate effect on SpaceX shares, which fell roughly 3% in after-hours trading following the abort. The stock closed at $131.11, below its $135 IPO price for the first time since the company went public last month.
