SpaceX Retries Starship Launch after Scrubbed South Texas Test Flight

Trucks with nitrogen line up to help fuel the Starship mega-rocket for a Friday test flight from Starbase. ## Propellant load completed, Starship ready for launch 5:28 p.m.: With about 90 seconds left in the countdown, propellant load has been completed and Starship is ready for launch. ## NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman at Starbase for launch 5:20 p.m.: NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman flew by Starbase in one of his privately owned Northrop F-5 Tiger II fighter jets, then appeared on the company webcast to discuss the recent Artemis II mission and future plans for the program intended to return humans to the moon. Starship is to play a major role in the program. ## Overnight tower repairs detailed on livestream The booster for SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship is prepared Tuesday for a test flight from Starbase. It’s set to take off from the all-new Pad 2. 5:10 p.m.: SpaceX worked overnight to repair the faulty tower arm that was responsible for shutting down Thursday’s launch attempt. Employees made both software and hardware changes, company spokesman Dan Huot said, including welding that was required to fix the balky pin. SpaceX is using what it calls Pad 2, its new launch tower, for the first time for this test flight. ## SpaceX begins livestream webcast of Friday launch attempt 5 p.m.: SpaceX has begun its livestream webcast of today’s launch attempt. A 90-minute launch window opens at 5:30 p.m. View the webcast on the SpaceX channel on the X social media channel. The livestream is also available on the company’s website. Company spokesman Dan Huot said the rocket is on track for launch at 5:30 p.m. ## Rocket is being fueled ahead of 5:30 launch window 4:55 p.m.: SpaceX said it has begun loading propellant into Starship. It was fueled Thursday ahead of the failed launch attempt, but must be refueled for today’s attempt. ## Boca Chica Beach closed in preparation for launch attempt 4:50 p.m.: SpaceX closed Boca Chica Beach access Friday morning in preparation for the launch. A series of problems thwarted Thursday’s attempt, the first for the newest generation of Starship, a new launch tower that SpaceX recently completed and a new flight path that will take the rocket between Cuba and the Yucatan Peninsula. CEO Elon Musk later said the hydraulic pin holding the launch tower’s arm in place did not retract. Crews worked through the night to repair the part. The Starship awaiting launch has been loaded with 20 mock Starlink satellites and two “specially modified” Starlinks to be released before the spacecraft’s controlled entry into the Indian Ocean at the end of the 65-minute mission. ## Countdown on as SpaceX set to try again for Starship launch 4:40 p.m.: The countdown is back on for the 12th flight of the Starship mega-rocket from South Texas after a series of problems forced a scrub in the final seconds of the count last night. Last-second problems with the launch tower got the best of Elon Musk’s rocket firm Thursday, but conditions are looking good for a launch Friday evening. Weather is better than yesterday, with SpaceX saying it had an 85% chance of being acceptable for a launch attempt when the 90-minute launch window opens at 5:30 p.m. Central. “T-zero is currently 5:30 Texas time,” said Musk in a post on X at 4 p.m. May 22, 2026|Updated May 22, 2026 5:30 p.m.