The countdown is off for the launch of SpaceX Starship.
Elon Musk’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket are on the launching pad in Boca Chica, Texas, WFTV reported.
Scrubbed
Update 9:16 a.m. EDT April 17: Despite the fact that all systems were go early Monday, the launch has been scrubbed, The New York Times reported.
The reason was said to be because of a problem with the pressurization system in the booster.
Musk said on Twitter that a pressurant valve was frozen.
The countdown had less than 10 minutes until launch when it was scrubbed, CNN reported.
Despite the launch being canceled on Monday, the crew will continue to do the countdown as a wet dress rehearsal, meaning that it will do everything but ignite the engines, the Times reported.
Teams are discussing if the rocket can launch later this week and what the schedule could be, CNN reported.
Original report: It is the most powerful rocket ever built, CNN reported.
NASA is watching the SpaceX launch closely as the success of Starship has a direct effect on the Artemis III mission. NASA will use a variant of Starship to land humans on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
Monday’s launch is the first try for a fully assembled Starship vehicle after years of testing, CNN reported.
“I guess I’d like to just set expectations low,” Musk said, CNN reported. “If we get far enough away from launch pad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just don’t blow up the pad.”
If it does not take off Monday, there will be other attempts throughout the week, The New York Times reported.
Starship will not make a full orbit around the Earth. Instead, the launch will it to about 150 miles above the planet before it comes back into the atmosphere near Hawaii about an hour and a half after blast-off, CNN reported.
The Super Heavy booster has 33 SpaceX Raptor engines to produce 16 million pounds of thrust, the Times reported.
Both the booster and the spaceship are expected to crash into the ocean and sink, the newspaper reported. But in the future, both are expected to be reusable.
Musk has his sights set on a longer trip for his rocket — a mission to Mars. A mission to the red planet is why he started SpaceX as a vehicle to establish a settlement on Mars.