SpaceX to launch Starship in critical test of Elon Musk's 2026 Mars plan

SpaceX is preparing to launch its Starship mega rocket on Tuesday, in what will be the first major test of Elon Musk’s Mars-bound rocket since two explosions scuppered earlier flights in 2025.

It will mark the ninth major flight of the world’s biggest rocket, as SpaceX looks to accelerate testing to meet Mr Musk’s goal of sending it to Mars by the end of 2026.

“Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying [Tesla’s humanoid robot] Optimus,” the SpaceX boss wrote on X in March. “If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely.”

The most recent Starship test in March saw the 123-metre-tall rocket explode just 10 minutes into the mission, causing flight disruption over Florida and islands in the Caribbean.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) blamed the halted flights on “falling space debris”, leading to an extensive safety review of the incident.

The regulator concluded its investigation last week and granted SpaceX permission to launch an improved version of Starship.

“With the Starship vehicle return to flight determination, Starship Flight 9 is authorised for launch,” an FAA spokesperson told The Independent. “The FAA find SpaceX meets all of the rigorous safety, environmental and other licensing requirements.”

Under the ruling, SpaceX is allowed to perform up to 25 Starship launches per year from the firm’s Starbase facility in Texas.

SpaceX has made several updates to the latest Starship rocket, hoping to improve reliability and prevent another catastrophic failure.

“Developmental testing by definition is unpredictable,” SpaceX wrote in a blog post ahead of the latest launch attempt.

“But by putting hardware in a flight environment as frequently as possible, we’re able to quickly learn and execute design changes as we seek to bring Starship online as a fully and rapidly reusable vehicle.”

Starship is set to lift off from SpaceX’s Starbase facility on Tuesday at 6:30 pm local time (12:30 am BST Wednesday).

A live stream of the launch and flight will be available on SpaceX’s website.