The first liftoff of Starship, the world’s largest rocket, will not take place this Monday due to a technical problem encountered during the last minutes of preparations, SpaceX announced during its live video.
“Today’s liftoff attempt is postponed, the team is working for the next available opportunity,” SpaceX said on Twitter on Monday, shortly after the failed attempt.
However, the SpaceX teams continued to run the countdown and simulate liftoff operations in the form of a dress rehearsal, which was halted just before the scheduled launch time.
Another takeoff attempt during the week?
Reservation dates are possible during the week. “We anticipate a minimum of 48 hours before we can attempt this test flight again,” a SpaceX employee said during the company’s live video.
“A valve appears to be frozen,” SpaceX chief Elon Musk tweeted earlier.
The takeoff of this giant was planned from the Starbase space base, in the southern tip of Texas in the United States.
A rocket destined to travel to the Moon and Mars.
From its height of 120 meters, Starship belongs to the category of super-heavy launchers, capable of transporting more than 100 tons of payload to orbit. Its takeoff power must be more than double that of the legendary Saturn V, the rocket of the Apollo lunar program (111 meters). It is intended for trips to the Moon and Mars.
The flight plan for Monday was as follows: About three minutes after takeoff, the Super Heavy would separate and plunge back into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The Starship then had to continue its ascent on her own and complete slightly less than one circumnavigation of the Earth before crashing back into the Pacific Ocean. But this was the “best case,” SpaceX had said, as the test outcome is uncertain.
“Tomorrow probably won’t be a hit, if by that we mean reaching orbit,” Elon Musk said Sunday night, speaking to his followers via Twitter. “If we see something that worries us, we will postpone the flight,” he warned.
This maiden flight was to be closely watched by NASA. The US space agency has chosen this spacecraft to take its astronauts to the Moon for the first time in more than half a century, during the Artemis 3 mission officially scheduled for 2025.
Source: BFM TV
