SpaceX's second test launch of its upgraded Starship rocket was halted on Thursday in South Texas just moments after engine ignition when several Raptor engines failed to start, triggering an automatic abort. The company will replace two engines and attempt the flight again the following week. The aborted test was intended to deploy advanced Starlink satellites designed to safely deorbit after approximately twenty minutes of spaceflight.

The launch failure struck at an awkward moment for SpaceX, occurring roughly one month after its June public offering that raised more than $85 billion and briefly valued the company above Amazon and Microsoft. The stock price declined below its initial $135 offering price following the abort, losing more than four percent in after-hours trading. The test attempt followed earlier difficulties from the May inaugural flight, which successfully deployed satellite simulators but saw the booster stage experience failure, prompting regulatory review.