Global Courant 2023-04-17 21:47:12
SpaceX technicians at Elon Musk’s company facility in Texas backed off the launch of the Starship, which had a 150-minute window starting at 8:00 a.m. Central US time. (13:00 GMT).
Technicians said they found that a pressurization valve was apparently frozen as a reason to postpone what was to be the first test of the rocket designed to take people to the Moon and Mars.
“Today’s flight test attempt is withdrawn, the team is working towards the next available opportunity,” SpaceX said in a message on Twitter.
Standing down from today’s flight test attempt; team is working towards next available opportunity
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 17, 2023
Musk, shortly before, had gone ahead on his own social network account to deliver the bad news.
“A pressurizing valve seems to be frozen, so unless it starts working soon, it will not launch today,” Musk had said when engineers already reported that there were technical problems and that it was very likely that history would not be made today.
A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2023
SpaceX engineers nevertheless continued with the countdown as a dress rehearsal, but the engines of the 120-meter (394-foot) super rocket Starship failed to ignite.
“With a test like this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the likelihood of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship,” the company said of today’s experience.
The billionaire, shortly after the postponement was confirmed, returned to Twitter to point out that he learned “a lot today” and that the rocket was already being unloaded to “try again in a few days.”
Learned a lot today, now offloading propellant, retrying in a few days…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2023
The launch is now postponed until, in principle, on Wednesday, although we will still have to wait to find out exactly when the next attempt will be.
After many years of preparation by SpaceX, last Friday the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), responsible for granting licenses for the launch of commercial rockets in the US, gave the go-ahead for the Starship’s first test flight.
The takeoff zone, in the Brownsville (Texas) area, was today under an air traffic restriction to avoid problems in the rocket launch operation.
Musk’s company defines the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket, collectively referred to as Starship, as a reusable transportation system designed to transport both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Read more: NASA announces the crew of astronauts that will travel on its historic mission around the Moon in 2024
Starship, with a diameter of 9 meters (30 feet), is capable of carrying up to 150 fully reusable tons, according to company calculations.
The goal is to make future interplanetary trips with up to 100 people on board.
The propellant rocket, in this first failed test, was going to fall into the sea shortly after taking off, although in the future the recovery of the vehicles is intended so that they land vertically in the same place of launch.
Also read: The spectacular images of the brightest gamma-ray explosion ever recorded (and what it reveals about the most violent detonations in the universe)
Until today’s launch, the largest rocket in aerospace history was the Saturn V from the Apollo missions with just over 110 meters, which have already been surpassed by this new project.
