SpaceX has delayed the launch of Starship, the largest rocket in history, minutes before it was set to take off on its first test flight on Monday, according to reports. BBC.
“Monday’s maiden test flight of the Starship spacecraft will not take place due to a last-minute technical glitch in production,” SpaceX announced during a live video broadcast.
However, the SpaceX crew continued to run the countdown, simulating liftoff operations in the form of a dress rehearsal, which stopped just before the scheduled launch time.
The launch was to take place from the Starbase space station located in the southern part of the state of Texas, USA.
A move to cancel the launch was made after technicians discovered a pressurization problem in the first stage of the spacecraft.
That’s not unusual, experts say. Fueling a rocket is a complex operation that is very difficult the first time it is done.
SpaceX experts now need to figure out what went wrong and why this pressure problem occurred.
It takes at least 48 hours to reset the rocket before you attempt another launch.
SpaceX owner Elon Musk took to Twitter to announce the reason for today’s delay. “Apparently a pressure valve had frozen,” he wrote.
Starship is a very heavy, fully reusable space vehicle. It is the tallest and most powerful launch vehicle ever built. It consists of two components: a space transport vehicle – the upper stage, and a gigantic rocket – the lower stage, called Super Heavy, which sends the vehicle into space.
The vehicle is 120 meters tall and has been developed by Elon Musk’s company over the years for space missions beyond Earth’s orbit to the Moon and Mars.
Author: Liviu Kojan
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