SpaceX prepares to launch world's largest rocket... again

SpaceX is preparing to launch its Starship rocket for a second time after a failed attempt earlier this year

SpaceX is preparing to launch its largest ever rocket for the second time after an unsuccessful attempt in April.

April's test flight ended in disaster after the giant rocket system, know as Starship, blew up just four minutes after launch.

The 122-metre tall rocket, which was originally scheduled for take off on Friday, will now blast off on Saturday after SpaceX, headed up by billionaire businessman Elon Musk, postponed its launch.

The company's founder said the delay was down to a faulty part on the rocket.

"We need to replace a grid fin actuator, so launch is postponed to Saturday," Musk wrote on the social media platform X.

The launch is now set to take place during a 20-minute window from 8am (EST), which is 1pm British time, at the company's Starbase site in Texas.

The scheduled rocket launch is one of many tests in SpaceX's big plan to build a fully reusable rocket capable of sending up to 150 tonnes of satellites into space, as well as humans to the moon and eventually Mars.

What's special about Starship?

The last attempted launch of the Starship rocket was in April

Normally, when a rocket returns to Earth, most of it burns up when it hits our planet's atmosphere.

However Starship is designed to be completely reusable.

This means it will be able to take people back and forth from space, and Musk hopes this will usher in a new era of commercial space travel, where people can nip to Mars in the same way you might catch a flight to America.

It's also the most powerful rocket ever built - its huge booster, named Super Heavy, is made up of 33 engines, which makes it twice as powerful as Nasa's Artemis rocket.