STARBASE, Texas: SpaceX's highly anticipated Starship test flight was put on hold on the evening of August 24 after engineers identified a problem with ground equipment at its Texas launch site, forcing the company to delay what would have been the rocket system's tenth mission.

The fully stacked 232-foot Super Heavy booster and its 171-foot Starship upper stage were already being loaded with propellant at SpaceX's Starbase facility when the company announced it was "standing down" about 30 minutes before liftoff. SpaceX said the delay was needed to troubleshoot a ground systems issue.

The launch had been set for 7:35 p.m. ET (2335 GMT), and founder Elon Musk was expected to provide an update on the rocket's progress. That briefing was also scrapped, and SpaceX later said it would aim for another launch attempt as soon as August 25.

Starship is central to Musk's vision of carrying humans to Mars and key to NASA's Artemis program, which plans to use the rocket for a crewed moon landing in 2027. But the system has faced repeated setbacks this year. Two rockets failed early in flight, another was lost in space on its ninth mission, and in June, a ground test ended in a massive explosion that scattered debris into northern Mexico.

Despite the problems, SpaceX has maintained its rapid pace of production and testing. The current Starship design features more thrust, a redesigned heat shield, and stronger steering flaps — all designed to make the rocket more durable and reusable.

Sunday's planned flight would have marked several milestones. The Super Heavy booster was slated to separate and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico, testing a backup engine configuration. Meanwhile, the upper stage was set to release mock Starlink satellites, then attempt an engine reignition on a suborbital trajectory before reentering Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean.

The reentry test is especially critical. Previous flights saw Starship's exterior shredded by intense heat. SpaceX says the rocket's new heat shield tiles and reinforced flaps are designed to withstand that punishment. "Starship's reentry profile is designed to intentionally stress the structural limits of the upper stage's rear flaps while at the point of maximum entry dynamic pressure," the company explained.