It’s a Scrub for First Flight of Starship V3, But SpaceX Has Other News

SpaceX’s first attempt to launch the new version of Starship, Version 3, almost got off the launch pad today, but several hiccups with less than a minute to go meant a scrub for today. During the webcast, however, SpaceX had other news — an interview with the man who plans to make the first interplanetary human spaceflight, flying Starship around Mars.

This is SpaceX’s 12th Starship Integrated Flight Test (IFT-12), but the first of the significantly redesigned Version 3, or V3, with new Raptor engines and many other upgrades. It also is lifting off from a brand new launch pad. Last minute anomalies are not unexpected in such circumstances.

The countdown proceeded to T-40 seconds where they can hold for a few minutes to resolve any issues that crop up. They held, restarted, held again, restarted again and so on for a total of five times. There’s a limit to how long they can hold at that point, however, because the cryogenic propellant must remain at the right temperature.

In the end they had to give up for today. They can try again tomorrow if they resolve the issues which included a problem with a water diverter on the launch pad and another on the Quick Disconnect on Starship. The final straw, according to a post on X by Elon Musk, was that the hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract.

Earlier in the countdown, SpaceX Communications Manager Dan Huot shared other news: Chun Wang, who commanded the Fram2 mission on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon last year, will lead a crew on the first interplanetary mission to fly around, but not land on, Mars. The mission will take two years.

Wang is a Chinese-born cryptocurrency billionaire who became a citizen of Malta prior to his Fram2 flight. In a pre-recorded interview with Wang, who is currently exploring Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic, they mentioned no timeframe.

In 2018, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa bought the first commercial flight around the Moon on what was then called the BFR rocket. At the time, the flight was expected in 2023. Later renamed Starship, the rocket has taken much longer to develop than Musk or Maezawa anticipated. Maezawa decided to fly to the International Space Station in 2021, and although he had selected eight companions to join him on his “Dear Moon” flight, he abandoned the entire effort in 2024 because it was taking too long.

In 2022, however, Dennis Tito, an American billionaire who was the first “space tourist” to visit the ISS in 2001, and his wife, Akiko Tito, bought two tickets on a commercial Starship flight around the Moon with the expectation others would buy additional tickets.

It turns out that Wang will be one of them. SpaceX posted on its website that before embarking on the Mars flyby, he will join the Titos on that commercial journey around the Moon.

Prior to this interplanetary mission, Chun will join Dennis and Akiko Tito on the first planned Starship commercial human spaceflight around the Moon. The week-long circumlunar fly-by mission will help advance Starship’s systems for deep-space, long-duration missions and is planned to fly within 200 km of the Moon’s surface. — SpaceX