July 17, 2025 Elon Musk says his troubled Starship giant rocket is on track to launch again in early August. Starship has had a challenging gestation. The massive rocket, which comprises the ‘Super Heavy’ lower booster stage and the Starship upper stage, has launched nine times to date. The rocket has at its key aim the lowering of costs, increasing the amount of cargo that can be carried, and adaptability for a wide range of space missions – including being part of Musk’s ambitions of getting humans to Mars. The Super Heavy booster stage has largely been successful and featured dramatically on the world’s TV screens when the booster was captured by SpaceX’s giant ‘chopsticks’ when it returned to its launch site. The aim, however, is for both stages to land and be reused. But the upper stage, the Starship itself, has had various endings to its flights including catastrophic explosions (‘Rapid Disassembly’) since its debut flight on April 20th 2023. This year has seen Test Flights 7, 8 and 9, with each carrying dummy satellites. Flights 7 and 8 saw a successful capture for the booster, although Flight 9 was totally unsuccessful and lost the booster as well as the Starship upper stage. Not helping matters was a massive ground explosion on June 19th which saw the rocket totally destroyed and severe damage to the launch pad at Starbase in South Texas. Test Flight 10 is likely around August 4th. Other posts by Register We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. Ok