Starship V3, uncrewed and featuring dozens of upgrades tailored for rapid Starlink satellite launches and NASA moon missions, was to be a key test for the vehicle following months of testing delays.
The delay is also poised to affect investor confidence ahead of what might be the biggest initial public offering in history, where SpaceX is targeting a valuation of $US1.75 trillion.
SpaceX had spent months redesigning Starship after a streak of failures last year, culminating in the V3 design that was meant to launch on Thursday.
It called off Friday's launch seconds before its planned lift-off, after multiple pauses to the countdown triggered by fuel temperature and pressure readings.
Musk said on X the a hydraulic pin on one of the launch tower's giant mechanical arms did not retract as designed.
"If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT," Musk said of the faulty arm.
The fully reusable Starship, which SpaceX has spent more than $US15 billion developing, is key to Musk's goals of cutting launch costs, expanding his Starlink satellite business and pursuing ambitions ranging from deep-space exploration to orbital data centres - all factored in to his IPO valuation.
Before the launch attempt, Musk sought to temper expectations in case of failure, saying: "There is a large pipeline of V3 ships and boosters in the factory."
He said a failure would not affect the cadence of future Starship test launches "by more than a month or so."
SpaceX's engineering culture, considered more risk-tolerant than many of the aerospace industry's more established players, is built on a flight-testing strategy that pushes newly developed spacecraft to the point of failure, then fine-tunes improvements through frequent repetition.
with AP
16°C