SpaceX came within 40 seconds of making history on May 21, 2026, before a hydraulic pin failure on the launch tower forced the company to scrub the first-ever flight of its third-generation Starship rocket from Starbase, Texas. The abort, which occurred at approximately 6:40 p.m. CDT, capped a tense countdown that had already been interrupted by multiple technical holds.
According to a report by NBC News, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk confirmed the cause shortly after the scrub, writing on X: “The hydraulic pin holding the tower arm in place did not retract.” The tower arm connects the rocket to ground support equipment, and its failure to release triggered an automatic abort. The scrub came on top of two other issues detected during the countdown: a fault with the water diverter system on the launch pad and a problem with the quick-disconnect mechanism linking Starship to the ground infrastructure.
The mission, designated Flight 12, was to be the debut of Starship Version 3, the most powerful rocket ever built at 407 feet tall and significantly upgraded over earlier variants. Musk indicated overnight repairs were possible and set a 24-hour turnaround target, with a new launch window opening the following evening.
SpaceX followed through. On May 22, 2026, Starship V3 lifted off from Starbase at 5:30 p.m. local time, clearing the tower and ascending to space. The vehicle deployed 20 Starlink satellite simulators and two modified Starlink satellites equipped to record exterior footage, completing its primary payload objectives despite losing one of its six Raptor upper-stage engines during ascent.
The mission’s one major setback came on the return leg. The Super Heavy booster’s engines failed to re-ignite properly during the descent phase, causing the booster to tumble and explode on impact with the Gulf of Mexico rather than executing a controlled splashdown. Starship itself completed a simulated landing in the Indian Ocean roughly one hour after launch before tipping over and exploding as planned, meeting its test objectives.
Flight 12 marked a milestone in SpaceX’s iterative development programme despite the booster loss. The V3 Starship is larger, more powerful and designed to be fully reusable, a capability central to NASA’s plans to use the vehicle as a lunar lander for the Artemis programme. Each test, successful or not, feeds directly into the engineering decisions that will determine when the rocket is ready to carry crew.
