SpaceX plans to conduct the ninth test flight of its Starship rocket on Tuesday, May 27, at 6:30 p.m. CT (2330 GMT) from its launch facility in Texas.
The announcement follows two previous flight tests earlier this year that ended with the upper stage of the rocket exploding during ascent.
Flights 7 and 8 both encountered failures approximately eight minutes after liftoff, which SpaceX attributed to hardware issues in the upper-stage engine. Debris from the earlier test missions was reported to have fallen over the Caribbean region.
SpaceX says modifications have been made to address the causes of the previous malfunctions. The upcoming launch is intended to test those changes and assess the rocket’s overall performance.
Starship, currently the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, is central to SpaceX’s long-term plans for deep space missions, including potential crewed flights to Mars.
CEO Elon Musk has emphasized the importance of Starship’s development for enabling human settlement on other planets.
