Starship IFT-8 Tries Again Tomorrow as SpaceX Readies for Florida Launches This Year

SpaceX will try again tomorrow, March 5, to launch Starship’s Integrated Flight Test-8 (IFT-8) from Starbase at Boca Chica, TX. They scrubbed the first attempt last night due to technical issues with both the booster and the ship. Meanwhile, the company said they hope to begin launching Starship from Florida later this year.

The Starship/Super Heavy combination was on the launch pad at Boca Chica, TX getting ready to go when the launch was scrubbed after pausing at T-40 seconds. That is a pre-set point where the countdown can be stopped for several minutes, but resumed if conditions allow. This time it was a no.

Super Heavy (the “booster’) is the first stage and Starship (the “ship”, covered in black thermal protection tiles) is the second stage, but often the combination is also referred to as Starship.

During the live broadcast, commentator Dan Huot noted about 20 minutes before the planned 6:45 pm ET liftoff that an unspecified problem with the booster had been flagged, but they would continue with the countdown until the T-40 second mark.  Whatever that was apparently was resolved in time, but then something went awry with the ship. They paused for several minutes at T-40 seconds and momentarily resumed the countdown, but quickly stopped again and called it a day.  SpaceX founder and Chief Engineer Elon Musk posted on X that there just were “too many question marks.”

Too many question marks about this flight and then we were 20 bar low on ground spin start pressure.

Best to destack, inspect both stages and try again in a day or two. https://t.co/TekpJ0uz5y

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 4, 2025

SpaceX says they will try again tomorrow at the same time. The one-hour launch window opens at 5:30 am Central Time (6:30 pm Eastern).

Boca Chica is Starship’s only launch site at the moment and a second launch pad already has been built there. But Musk plans hundreds of Starship launches per year as part of his goal to make humans a multiplanetary species by sending millions of people to Mars. More launch pads are needed. Florida is next.

In December 2021, SpaceX began building a Starship launch pad next to its existing Falcon launch pad at NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex-39A (LC-39A). The first Starship launch from Florida is planned later this year. They’re also completing environmental reviews so they can build another Starship pad at Space Launch Complex-37 (SLC-37) on the adjacent Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SLC-37 previously was used for United Launch Alliance’s Delta IV rocket, which had its final flight a year ago.

In addition to continued infrastructure development at Starbase, Texas, where SpaceX is headquartered, SpaceX is expanding its Starship operations in Florida, bringing Starship production and launch capabilities to the Space Coast → https://t.co/PYket6ALNO pic.twitter.com/akKEL6rXaA

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) March 3, 2025

They’ve also started site preparations for a “Gigabay” to support Super Heavy/Starship operations next to their existing Hangar X at KSC. Standing 380 feet tall, it will have 46.5 million cubic feet of processing space with 815,000 square feet of workspace. The 9-meter (30-foot) diameter Super Heavy boosters are currently 71 meters (232 feet) tall, but SpaceX is planning to make them bigger and the Gigabay will be able to accommodate a height of 81 meters (266 feet).  When stacked, Super Heavy and Starship together are 123 meters (403 feet) tall for now.

A manufacturing facility similar to the one they have at Boca Chica is planned at KSC as well. Until it’s ready, they’ll ship completed Starships and Super Heavy boosters from Boca Chica to KSC via barge.