According to TechCrunch, Elon Musk recently shared a video clip of his video game play on his social media platform X, which included background audio of a SpaceX engineer discussing a near-abort incident during the latest Starship flight test. The clip, posted on Friday, was highlighted by Reuters’ Joey Roulette on X. It remains unclear if the conversation between Musk and the Starship engineers took place on the same day as the video post.
In the audio, an unnamed engineer is heard explaining to Musk that a misconfigured component almost led to an abort of the Starship flight test. The engineer mentioned that the component did not have the correct “ramp up time for bringing up spin pressure” on the booster, which brought the mission “one second away” from an abort. The engineer further detailed that just before the booster’s engine startup during its descent back to Earth, a cover on the booster’s skin ripped off, exposing critical equipment. Fortunately, none of the essential valves or harnessing were damaged, and the team has a plan to address the issue.
Musk was being briefed on the fifth Starship integrated test flight, known as IFT-5, which occurred on October 13. SpaceX had set ambitious objectives for this test, including returning the Super Heavy booster to the launch site and catching it with a pair of oversized “chopstick” arms extending from the launch tower. The mission was successful, marking a significant achievement for the company. The brief clip underscores that even seemingly flawless rocket launches can come close to disaster, and each test provides SpaceX with valuable post-flight data to improve future missions.
The engineer also noted that this will be the first Starship test flight whose schedule is not determined by the FAA. Typically, SpaceX has been ahead of the FAA in terms of launch readiness, but for IFT-5 and IFT-6, the FAA granted approval simultaneously. This development allows SpaceX to balance speed and risk mitigation more effectively for upcoming flight attempts.
