SpaceX scrubs Starship flight test over technical problems
U.S. private space company SpaceX called off the 10th flight test of its powerful Starship rocket on Sunday due to technical problems, Xinhua reports.
The launch had been scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Central Daylight Time (2330 GMT) from the company's Starbase facility in the U.S. state of Texas. However, a problem with ground systems forced the company to scrub the attempt, said SpaceX.
The 10th flight test is expected to target similar objectives as previous missions, including Starship's first payload deployment and multiple reentry experiments geared towards returning the upper stage to the launch site for catch, it added.
SpaceX's Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively referred to as Starship, represent a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Notably, Biological satellite Bion-M No. 2, launched last Wednesday, will become a powerful foundation for human exploration of deep space, said Sergey Chernyshyov, Vice President of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket took place at 8:13 p.m. Moscow time from Baikonur site No. 31 (Vostok launch complex). Bion-M is to spend 30 days in space and land on September 19 in the steppes of the Orenburg Region.