The world’s largest rocket, Starship, will take off again on Thursday, April 20, after being postponed due to a technical glitch last Monday.
A new launch attempt for the world’s largest Starship rocket from the Starbase space station in southern Texas, USA. The first departure was scheduled for last Monday, but was canceled at the last minute due to a technical glitch.
However, the weather conditions were excellent. However, about ten minutes before launch, Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX, the maker of this giant rocket, pointed out on Twitter that a valve appeared to be frozen. The incident forced the postponement of the launch event.
So the new shooting window opens for just over an hour this Thursday at 8:28am local time (3:28pm Paris time). This will be the first flight of the complete configuration of the Starship rocket, its most powerful first stage, known as Super Heavy.
“Starship is a fully reusable transportation system designed to transport crew and cargo to Earth orbit, return humanity to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond. The success of an experiment like this will be measured by what can be learned from it, which is key to future success as SpaceX moves forward in Starship development. will improve opportunities,” SpaceX said. Rocket launches can also be followed live on its website.
An essential achievement for future missions to the Moon
However, the outcome of the theft is uncertain. About three minutes after liftoff, the superheavy is expected to break up and fall back into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The starship will need to light up six of its engines to continue its climb to an altitude of about 150 kilometers. Then, it has to make a little less than a complete revolution of the Earth in one hour before falling back into the Pacific Ocean. SpaceX said it was the “best-case scenario” possible.
Elon Musk has mentioned that achieving orbit on the first try is highly unlikely. In fact, this launch is mainly used to collect as much data and information as possible to improve the next rockets and the next missiles. “The team conducted extensive testing of the super-heavy rocket, including complex sustained fires culminating in a full test of 31 Raptor engines, the most simultaneous rocket engine firing of any in history,” SpaceX said. A detonation of one of these engines can spread to the others and damage the launch pad.
The launch will be closely followed by NASA, which has selected the Starship spacecraft for one of its future missions, Artemis III, which will send astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
Astronauts will depart from Earth aboard NASA’s SLS rocket and travel to the Moon with the Orion capsule, which will dock with the Starship spacecraft placed in lunar orbit. The latter plays the role of the lander, who must bring the astronauts to the surface of the moon. The proper operation of the starship is essential for the Artemis III mission, which is scheduled for December 2025.
