Elon Musk’s SpaceX has delayed the launch of its next-generation Starship rocket, putting off for at least two days the key step before sending crewed missions into deep space.
The company hoped to fly the rocket on Monday from a facility in Boca Chica, Texas, operated by Musk’s closely held company, formally known as Space Exploration Technologies.
After a “pressurisation issue” emerged minutes before the attempt, SpaceX decided to scrub the launch. It needs at least 48 hours before attempting again.
Starship was conceived to bring people — including Nasa astronauts — and cargo such as satellites into Earth’s orbit and beyond. The rocket is more powerful than any previous crewed spacecraft and taller than the Saturn V. The launch vehicle system also has been designed to be fully reusable, which SpaceX promises will reduce costs. SpaceX plans future crewed missions to the moon and, at some point, deep space destinations, including Mars.
The uncrewed test flight was to come after the Federal Aviation Administration granted SpaceX a long-awaited launch licence last week for the inaugural flight to space for the fully assembled vehicle.
When the launch attempt happens, the Super Heavy booster rocket is expected to break away from Starship after an initial climb to space and do a controlled dive into the Gulf of Mexico.
If everything goes as planned, Starship will continue and arc through space completing almost a full lap around the Earth. It will then land in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Hawaii.
Before the launch attempt, Musk tried to temper expectations, saying on a Twitter audio live stream on Sunday he had one big goal for the attempt: “Just don’t blow up the launch pad.”
TIMELINE
Bloomberg News is following the latest developments over the course of the day. All time stamps reflect the US East Coast.
“Pressurisation issue” scrubs launch
The company halted the launch attempt several minutes after disclosing a “pressurisation issue”.
Musk said SpaceX learnt a lot and would try again “in a few days”. SpaceX said it would treat Monday’s event as a dress rehearsal.
Fuelling gets under way
SpaceX tweeted it had begun fuelling Starship’s upper stage as it moved closer to the launch time.
The company completed a fuelling test in January before engineers the next month test-fired 31 of the 33 Raptor engines on the base of Super Heavy while holding the vehicle down — the most engines that have ever ignited at once.
SpaceX is hoping all 33 engines will ignite this time. Though Musk noted the risk if one engine were to have some kind of catastrophic malfunction.
“Think about it, if you’ve got 33 engines and if any one of them goes wrong it’s like having a box of grenades — really big grenades,” Musk said on Sunday. “And so if one of those grenades goes off you don’t want the other grenades to go off too.”
Bystanders gather near launch site
Media and other observers gathered along the shoreline of South Padre Island in the early hours of Monday, well before the sun came up. The sky was clear and waves gently lapped at the shore, which was strewn with lawn chairs and blankets for those who came to watch.
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