Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Elon Musk's SpaceX aborted a highly anticipated high-altitude test flight of the company's stainless steel Mars rocket, Starship, in South Texas, just before sunset Tuesday.
The company had planned to launch the test vehicle about 5:40 p.m. EST, but the engines shut down one second before the planned liftoff. The company has posted road closures for a potential new test flight attempt Wednesday.
The prototype rocket is prepared for the test at the company's launch and development site in Boca Chica, Texas, about 180 miles south of Corpus Christi.
SpaceX has tested prototypes of the rocket in Boca Chica for more than a year. The prototype scheduled to fly Wednesday, SN8, is the first to feature a nosecone and lower fins. It has three raptor engines.
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SpaceX called the scrub a "raptor abort."
The flight is intended to test the features of the rocket as it ascends to nearly 8 miles above the Earth. The prototype is also to perform a landing "flip maneuver, which would be a first for a vehicle of this size," SpaceX said on its website.
The company performs similar flip maneuvers with the booster stage of its Falcon-9 rocket, turning the booster around mid-air so that the engines can be used to decelerate as the unit returns to Earth for a landing.
The company will spend days poring over the data obtained from the test when it happens. Musk said on Twitter Sunday that the test flight may only accomplish one-third of its objectives.
"With a test such as this, success is not measured by completion of specific objectives but rather how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success," the company said.
Although SpaceX is known for Falcon 9 rockets taking supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station, the company always had a bigger goal: travel to Mars.
To get to the Red Planet, a bigger and more powerful rocket than Falcon 9 is needed. Starship is that rocket. SpaceX also intends to develop a version of Starship for a moon landing in the next few years as part of NASA's Artemis program.
While SpaceX also is known for reusing the first-stage booster of Falcon 9, the company plans to make Starship entirely reusable.
Starship's Raptor engines, which also are under development, run on "methalox" -- rocket fuel composed of liquid oxygen oxidizer and explosive liquid methane.
