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Ground system issue scrubs first launch of SpaceX's Starship V3 rocket
Fri, May 22 · 2:05 AM UTC
· 2 min read
Compiled by KHAO Editorial
— aggregated from 7 sources + 16 references discovered via search.
See llms.txt for citation guidance.
✓ KHAO Verified
SpaceX got within 40 seconds of launching the first flight of a taller, more powerful version of its Starship rocket Thursday, but a pesky problem with the launch tower kept the vehicle bound to Earth for at least one more day.
Key facts
The 90-minute launch window Friday would open at 5:30 pm CDT (22:30 UTC) — It will be the 12th full-scale test flight of Starship and its Super Heavy booster to date, and the first to employ an overhauled design SpaceX calls Starship Version 3
Then, around 48 minutes after liftoff, Earth’s gravity will pull Starship back into the atmosphere over the Indian Ocean
The upcoming Starship test flight will mark the first liftoff from a brand-new launch pad at Starbase, Texas, the 1-year-old city encompassing SpaceX’s South Texas test site near the US-Mexico border
Summary
Clouds and rain showers cleared the area around SpaceX’s launch site in South Texas, leaving mostly sunny skies over the Starship launch pad Thursday afternoon. That was true, at least, until the countdown clock paused 40 seconds before liftoff. “It is sounding like we are not going to be able to clear this issue in time today, so we are going to be standing down from a launch,” said Dan Huot, a SpaceX official hosting the company’s live broadcast Thursday. Elon Musk, SpaceX’s founder and CEO, attributed the scrub to a hydraulic pin that failed to retract on an umbilical arm connecting the launch tower to the rocket.
#SpaceX #Starlink #Elon Musk #South Korea #DAN (Do Anything Now)
Sources & Citation
7 sources above + 4 verified + 12 unverified discovered via Google News → see Full coverage
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Cite (APA): KHAO Editorial. (2026). Ground system issue scrubs first launch of SpaceX's Starship V3 rocket . KHAO Daily Digest, May 22, 2026. Retrieved from https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/05/ground-system-issue-scrubs-first-launch-of-spacexs-starship-v3-rocket
Full coverage
Other sources that covered this story, discovered via Google News. 6 verified + 13 unverified additional sources beyond our direct ingest — use these to verify claims, compare framings, or quote specific publications.
Tier 1 — direct ingest
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