SOUTH PADRE ISLAND - SpaceX called off a planned test flight for its Starship megarocket, saying it needed time to troubleshoot problems, in the latest setback for Elon Musk's behemoth after a series of explosive failures.
The recent problems have led some observers to doubt whether the world's biggest and most powerful launch vehicle will be capable of taking humans back to the Moon -- or achieving Musk's dreams of colonising Mars.
The rocket had been scheduled to blast off on its tenth flight from the company's Starbase in southern Texas at 6:30pm local time.
However, around 15 minutes before lift-off, SpaceX scrubbed the flight, which is a relatively common event for space launches.
"Standing down from today's tenth flight of Starship to allow time to troubleshoot an issue with ground systems," it said on X, without elaborating.
SpaceX did not immediately announce a new launch date, but a countdown on the company's website suggested there would be another attempt at the same time on Monday evening.
The hour-long mission had been planned to put the rocket's upper stage through a series of trials before the lower stage booster splashed down in the Indian Ocean.
After an investigation into the previous failed flight in May, SpaceX said it would "intentionally stress the structural limits" of the upper stage, in the hopes of sounding out a successful return.
SpaceX has succeeded in catching the lower stage booster with giant "chopstick" launch tower arms three times, but the tenth flight will not attempt the feat.