Elon Musk's SpaceX aborted its 13th Starship test flight after several Raptor engines failed to ignite during the scheduled liftoff.
Elon Musk aborted the 13th test flight of the Starship rocket after multiple Raptor engines failed to ignite seconds before liftoff. The launch, which served as the company's first Starship flight since its record-breaking June IPO, was intended to test the booster's ability to execute stage separation and return to an offshore landing point in the Gulf of Mexico. The failure forced SpaceX to scrub the launch and return both stages of the vehicle to the hangar for refueling and analysis. While the abort raised questions regarding execution risk and the company's high valuation, the administration announced that the Federal Aviation Administration cleared the company to continue its trials following an investigation. SpaceX shares fell over 5% following the news, marking a six-day losing streak. Investors are now weighing the technical setbacks against the company's broader goals of global connectivity through Starlink and its expansion into AI compute.