A new-and-improved Starship is due to soar halfway across the world in a matter of days.

SpaceX has announced a target launch date for a mission referred to as flight 10, which will undoubtedly be a critical test for the gigantic 400-foot Starship spacecraft.

For one thing, it’s been nearly three months since SpaceX last conducted an uncrewed flight test from Texas for a vehicle that was intended to begin launching more frequently in 2025. And for another, the commercial spaceflight company founded by billionaire Elon Musk has struggled this year to repeat the successes of previous Starship test flights.

The first two Starship launches of 2025 ended with the vehicle’s upper stage, where astronauts would one day ride, exploding mere minutes into the missions. While Starship streaked further through suborbital space during the most recent May 27 launch, the vehicle still met an untimely end when it spun out of control about halfway through its flight without achieving some of its most important objectives.

SpaceX’s 10th flight test since April 2023 was then delayed June 18, when the upper stage, simply known as Starship, unexpectedly exploded on the test stand before it was mounted to the rocket booster.

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