(MENAFN- Live Mint) In another setback for Elon Musk, SpaceX has again postponed the test launch of its 'giant' Starship rocket in Texas due to bad weather. In a statement, SpaceX said the launch team would wait for next best opportunity to launch the Starship rocket.

“Standing down from today's flight test attempt due to weather. Starship team is determining the next best available opportunity to fly,” SpaceX said. On Sunday, August 24, SpaceX had halted the test flight of the megarocket after a technical issue on the launchpad forced a 24-hour delay.

As the Starship test launch was postponed, Elon Musk said,“Launch called off for tonight due to anvil clouds over launch site (lightning risk)”

The trial came at a time of heightened scrutiny for the world's most powerful launch vehicle – central to founder Elon Musk's dream of colonizing Mars and NASA's plan to return astronauts to the Moon – following a string of explosive failures that have begun raising doubts about its viability.

Sunday's attempt was also scrubbed because of a ground-system leak , a relatively routine issue in spaceflight and not generally cause for concern.

The aim of the mission

SpaceX has been periodically launching Starship on a series of test missions designed to ready the vehicle for lofting satellites – and eventually people – to Earth's orbit and beyond.

The first two flights this year ended in explosions within minutes, a third lost control after failing to release dummy satellites, and another rocket blew up on a test stand in June during fueling. Also Read | SpaceX eyes Starship reusability milestones in rockets tenth flight test

Those failures have led to increasing questions about whether Starship will be able to fulfill Musk's aims. SpaceX has opted to temporarily reassign roughly 20 per cent of its Falcon engineering team to Starship to help with testing and reliability, Bloomberg previously reported.

The mission is designed to test the upper stage – eventually meant to carry crew and cargo on Moon and Mars – by subjecting it to structural stress as it flies halfway around the globe before splashing down in the Indian Ocean.

Starship is supposed to eventually replace SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

(With agency inputs)

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