SpaceX to retry Starship launch after scrub; NASA's Swift Observatory reenters atmosphere

SpaceX has scrubbed the launch of its 12th Starship rocket from Texas and announced plans to attempt the test flight again on Friday. The launch, which was scheduled for Thursday, was called off seconds before liftoff following pauses triggered by fuel temperature and pressure readings. Elon Musk stated on X that a hydraulic pin on one of the launch tower’s mechanical arms did not retract as designed. "If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow," Musk said.

SpaceX is preparing for a 90-minute launch window starting at 5:30 p.m. Central Time on Friday. The Starship V3 is an uncrewed vehicle featuring upgrades for Starlink satellite launches and NASA moon missions. SpaceX has spent more than $15 billion developing the fully reusable Starship. According to Musk, a failure would not affect the cadence of future Starship test launches "by more than a month or so."

Separately, NASA's Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory reentered Earth's atmosphere on Wednesday, November 4, over the North Sumatra region of Indonesia. The spacecraft, which has been in orbit since November 20, 2004, underwent an "uncontrolled reentry" after running out of fuel to maintain its orbit. NASA reported that the reentry occurred at approximately 7:39 a.m. ET.

NASA had previously entered a $30 million contract with Catalyst Space Technologies to attempt a rescue mission using an uncrewed spacecraft named Link. However, the mission failed after a rotating mechanism used for attitude control malfunctioned, preventing Link from capturing the observatory. While most of the 1.5-ton spacecraft is expected to burn up, NASA noted that some components, such as tungsten parts, may survive. NASA estimated the probability of human casualty from surviving debris at approximately 1 in 2,100, which is higher than the agency's standard threshold of 1 in 10,000.

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