It was SpaceX’s first attempt to launch its Starship rocket after years of testing. ..reports Asian Lite News
The first launch of SpaceX Starship was called off at the last minute on Monday after a pressurization issue arose in the first stage.
The scheduled launch of the most powerful rocket ever constructed has been scrubbed after engineers could not troubleshoot a pressurization issue with the massive Super Heavy booster in time. Engineers tried to troubleshoot a pressurization issue with the massive Super Heavy booster. But they couldn’t quite figure it out in time, and today’s launch has been scrubbed.
The countdown clock had less than 10 minutes on it, with SpaceX engineer John Insprucker saying they would work to determine when they can make the next attempt.
SpaceX is letting the countdown clock run down a bit more and run through a bit of a rehearsal for what they will do on the next launch attempt. They do have a launch window reserved for Tuesday opening at 7 am CT (8 am ET), but recycling will force them to wait a bit longer, at least 48 hours.
They will put the rocket through what’s called a “recycle” — taking out the super-chilled fuel and preparing for another attempt.
It was SpaceX’s first attempt to launch its Starship rocket after years of testing. CEO Elon Musk described Starship as the vehicle that underpins SpaceX’s founding purpose: sending humans to Mars for the first time.
The inaugural flight test will complete nearly one full lap of the planet, ending with a splashdown off Hawaii.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which licenses commercial rocket launches, granted the company’s request for an uncrewed flight test of the rocket Friday.
Starship consists of a giant first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 50 metres upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship. Both stainless-steel vehicles are designed to be fully and rapidly reusable, and both are powered by SpaceX’s next-gen Raptor engine — 33 for Super Heavy and six for Starship.
NASA is also reserving “the use of its high-altitude WB-57 aircraft for observations of the Starship test flight on April 10 and 11”, Berger said in a report.
“The agency is closely tracking SpaceX’s progress with the massive rocket, as it intends to use the Starship vehicle as a lunar lander for its astronauts as part of the Artemis moon missions,” he added
The test flight will launch Ship 24 for one lap around Earth, culminating with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
Musk said recently that Starship has about a 50 per cent chance of success on that debut try. But SpaceX is building multiple Starship prototypes at Starbase and plans to launch them in relatively quick succession when they’re ready. (ANI)