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SpaceX’s 403-foot Starship is set to lift off Sunday evening from the company’s Starbase facility in South Texas, marking its most ambitious test yet after a string of setbacks.
The launch, SpaceX’s tenth test flight, comes after multiple failures in recent years — including three disastrous explosions in 2025 alone.
Between January and June, SpaceX suffered four Starship setbacks — a dramatic explosion in its first test flight, a midair blast in the second, a fiery destruction in the third, and finally a ground-test explosion following those in-flight failures.
Now engineers will attempt a series of high-risk maneuvers designed to prove Starship’s reusability, a critical step in owner Elon Musk’s long-term plan to reach the Moon and eventually conquer Mars.
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SpaceX’s rocket Starship is stacked and prepared for a test flight from Starbase in Starbase, Texas, on Saturday, Aug. 23. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
The goals for Sunday evening’s test include deploying Starlink satellite simulators, attempting a landing burn with a backup engine, and guiding the Super Heavy booster into a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of America.
SpaceX also hopes to make its first attempt at returning the Starship upper stage to the launch site.
In the past, Musk has admitted that repeated setbacks are part of SpaceX’s rapid test-and-fail approach.
The Tesla founder first teased Sunday’s test flight on Thursday, posting a photo of the gleaming spacecraft on X with the message: “Getting ready to launch Starship.”
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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shares his vision for life on Mars. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images| CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images | Fox News Digital)
Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built and is taller than the Saturn V that carried astronauts to the Moon in the sixties.
The vessel consists of two stages: the 232-foot Super Heavy booster and the 171-foot Starship upper stage, where future crew and cargo will ride once the tests are successful.
If successful, the new test mission would mark a breakthrough in Musk’s attempt to build a fully reusable rocket system capable of carrying humans deeper into space.
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The booster of SpaceX’s mega rocket Starship is recaptured during a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, Thursday, March 6, 2025. ( AP Photo/Eric Gay)
This would be a milestone for SpaceX, which has said it is essential for its Artemis moon lander contract with NASA and Musk’s ultimate goal of colonizing Mars.
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A live webcast of Sunday’s mission will begin approximately 30 minutes before liftoff.
Fox News Digital has reached out to SpaceX for comment.