SpaceX scrubs launch of Starship moon rocket

A major space milestone was planned Monday morning from Texas.

SpaceX planned to launch Starship on its test flight from the Starbase launch facility in Boca Chica, WKMG in Orlando reported, but the launch was scrubbed minutes before blast off.

The space agency posted on Saturday “Starship fully stacked at Starbase,” with several pictures of the massive rocket on the pad.

SpaceX got approval on Friday for the test launch from the Federal Aviation Administration, according to CNN. Once the launch happens, the rocket will orbit the Earth before Starship splashes down in the ocean.

SpaceX says Starship and its super heavy rocket is the most powerful spacecraft ever built, standing at nearly 400 feet tall.

The rocket was designed to be fully reusable, with the goal of eventually taking people and cargo to the Moon and Mars. That includes the rocket’s super heavy first stage which, like other first-stage rockets built by SpaceX, is meant to land back on Earth after launch.

Last November, NASA selected Starship to support a sustained program on the Moon with the Artemis IV mission.

SpaceX is also building a Starship launch facility at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.