The giant rocket “Starship”: the first flight has been postponed

It’s the world’s largest rocket yet: US billionaire Elon Musk’s “Starship” aims to make space transportation cheaper. But the first test flight was delayed due to technical problems.

The first test flight of the “Starship” rocket of tech billionaire Elon Musk, owned by the private space company SpaceX, was canceled at the last minute. There was a technical problem shortly before the start, the group announced during the live broadcast scheduled for the start.

Musk himself wrote on Twitter that the pressure valve appears to have froze. According to SpaceX, there will be a new launch attempt on Wednesday at the earliest.

In fact, the 120-meter heavy-duty rocket was supposed to take off from the company’s Starbase spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, in the afternoon CET. Starship is the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. It is scheduled to fly for 90 minutes after take-off.

Both stages of the rocket are in use for the first time

In the future, the missile system should be able to transport more than 100 tons of cargo. SpaceX’s new rocket has two stages: the “super heavy” booster stage with 33 engines and the upper stage, the actual “starcraft,” with six more engines. It doubles as a cargo and passenger spacecraft. The “starship” is designed in such a way that the spaceship and rocket can be reused after landing on Earth.

During the test flight into Earth orbit, the two rocket stages will be used together for the first time. The first stage of the rocket should separate from the spacecraft less than three minutes after launch, and then sink into the sea. The second stage is to continue its journey, orbiting the Earth once, and then landing in the sea off Hawaii.

Plan trips to the Moon and Mars

There have always been test setbacks in the past, and rocket prototypes have exploded several times. Almost all of Starship’s first-stage engines ignited successfully for the first time in February.

High hopes are pinned on the giant rocket. NASA wants to use it to return astronauts to the moon. The company has also been tasked with developing a commercial lunar lander. This is to bring astronauts to the moon. The order value is $2.89 billion.

The moon mission is the starting point for the first manned mission to Mars. The United States is the only country to date to have brought twelve astronauts to Earth on the Apollo missions.

Musk wants to lower the costs of space travel

But Elon Musk also has a stated economic goal: Above all, transportation should get cheaper. Because unlike the test flight, the two stages of the rocket must return to the launch pad in the future. If successful, “Starship” will be SpaceX’s first fully reusable rocket. Thus, missile launches can become cheaper.

Musk hopes that this spacecraft will cost less than $10 million to orbit in the future. To launch a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, customers are currently paying about $67 million to launch it. Musk’s private satellite company is already a leader among commercial providers.

SpaceX is worth about $137 billion

Musk, who helped found payment services company PayPal and is the chairman of electric car maker Tesla, founded SpaceX in 2002. The space company was founded with the goal of making spaceflight as cheap as possible.

SpaceX is among the largest unlisted companies in the world. The space company is valued at $137 billion.