CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX came within 30 seconds of launching its most ambitious rocket yet when critical hydraulic system failure scuttled the final countdown for Starship’s fourth test flight Thursday. The 407-foot-tall spacecraft, poised to skim space above the Indian Ocean on a halfway- around-the-world trajectory, was halted as engineers struggled with the new Starbase launch pad infrastructure near the Texas-Mexico border. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk identified the core problem: a hydraulic pin that failed to retract, leaving the launch tower’s support arm jammed in place. 'If we fix it quickly, we'll launch Friday,' Musk stated, noting the issue was 'simple to fix.' The aborted attempt occurred just one day after Musk announced SpaceX’s public offering, heightening scrutiny on the company’s development pace. Starship’s hour-long flight would have deployed 20 mock Starlink satellites before landing in the Indian Ocean, marking the 12th test for the vehicle designed to carry astronauts to the moon under NASA’s Artemis program. While NASA’s lunar mission timeline remains unchanged, the delay underscores the complexities of scaling Starship for orbital operations. The rocket’s next opportunity to test its reusability and super-heavy booster performance arrives with Friday’s potential launch window, carrying high stakes for both SpaceX and the future of human spaceflight.}