SpaceX Prepares for Starship’s Tenth Flight Test Amid Recent Scrubs

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

SpaceX is gearing up for the tenth integrated flight test of its revolutionary Starship launch vehicle, a critical step in the company’s ambitious plans for fully reusable space travel. Originally targeted for earlier dates, the launch has faced multiple delays due to technical and weather issues, with the latest attempt scrubbed on August 25, 2025, because of unfavorable anvil clouds. The test is now scheduled no earlier than August 26, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. CDT (7:30 p.m. EDT / 23:30 UTC) from the Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.

Background and Previous Flights

The Starship program has seen rapid iteration through its test flights, with each mission building on lessons from the last. Flight 10 follows a series of tests where the Super Heavy booster has performed reliably during ascent, but the upper-stage Ship has encountered recurring challenges. For instance, Flight 7 suffered from a fire in the aft section leading to engine failures, attributed to propellant leaks caused by harmonic oscillations. Flight 8 ended in an explosion due to a hardware failure in a central Raptor engine, while Flight 9 reached its intended trajectory but lost attitude control during the coast phase, resulting in disintegration upon reentry. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) closed its investigation into Flight 9 on August 15, 2025, paving the way for this next attempt.

These setbacks have highlighted issues with engine reliability, propellant management, and thermal protection during reentry. Despite the explosions and failures, SpaceX views them as valuable data points in refining the world’s most powerful rocket, designed to carry humans to Mars and beyond.

Objectives of Flight 10

Flight 10’s profile closely mirrors that of Flight 9, focusing on demonstrating key reusability milestones that have eluded previous tests. Primary goals include:

• Booster Performance: The Super Heavy Booster 16 will test an engine-out landing burn scenario, where one center engine is deliberately disabled and compensated by an engine from the middle ring. After stage separation, the booster will perform a boostback burn, hover briefly over the Gulf of Mexico, and then execute a controlled drop into the ocean.
• Ship Capabilities: Ship 37, the upper stage, aims to deploy eight Starlink mass simulators into orbit, conduct an in-space Raptor engine relight demonstration, and achieve a soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean after reentry. This relight test is crucial for future missions requiring orbital refueling and multi-burn profiles.
• Overall Mission: The flight will involve a directional flip during stage separation and hot-staging, pushing the boundaries of the vehicle’s control systems.

These objectives are part of SpaceX’s iterative development approach, aiming to validate technologies for rapid reuse and high-cadence launches.

Vehicle Configuration and Preparations

Starship Flight 10 will utilize Booster 16 and Ship 37, both from the Block 2 iteration of the vehicle design. Ship 37 carries a payload of about 16,000 kg (35,000 lb), including the Starlink simulators. Pre-flight activities have included cryogenic proof tests, static fire engine tests at the Massey’s test site, and full engine installations.

Preparations hit a snag when Ship 36 exploded during a static fire in June 2025, leading to the selection of Ship 37. Recent scrubs on August 24 (due to ground systems issues) and August 25 (weather) have delayed the launch, but SpaceX teams are working diligently to resolve any outstanding concerns.

Flight Profile and Timeline

The nominal flight timeline begins with propellant loading: liquid methane for the Ship at T-53 minutes and liquid oxygen at T-45 minutes. Liftoff is targeted for 6:30 p.m. CDT, with key milestones including:

• T+00:02:38: Stage separation and hot-staging.
• T+00:03:00: Booster boostback burn begins.
• T+00:07:00: Booster landing burn and ocean drop.
• T+00:08:30: Ship engine cutoff.
• T+00:18:27: Deployment of Starlink simulators begins.
• T+00:37:48: In-space Raptor relight demo.
• T+01:06:30: Ship splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

The entire test is expected to last about 1 hour and 6 minutes, with the booster splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico and the Ship in the Indian Ocean.

How to Watch and What to Expect

SpaceX will provide a live webcast of the flight test on its website and X (formerly Twitter) account, starting approximately 30 minutes before liftoff. Enthusiasts can also tune into independent streams from outlets like NASASpaceflight and Spaceflight Now for additional commentary.

As this is the penultimate test in the Block 2 series, a successful Flight 10 could accelerate SpaceX’s timeline toward crewed missions and NASA collaborations, such as the Artemis program. given the experimental nature of these tests, outcomes can be unpredictable—ranging from full success to informative failures that propel future improvements.

Stay tuned for updates as SpaceX pushes the envelope of space exploration with Starship.

Last update on 2025-12-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API