The second test of the largest rocket system ever built in space history is not scheduled to take place until Saturday. A drive unit on a control surface still needs to be replaced, wrote Elon Musk on Thursday on the short message service X, formerly Twitter, which he owns. “That’s why the start has been postponed to Saturday.”
A 20-minute start window should open at 2 p.m. CET on Saturday, SpaceX announced shortly afterwards. The second start attempt had previously been announced for Friday from 2 p.m. CET.
At the same time, Elon Musk’s space company sent out a noise warning to residents of surrounding Cameron County: A “loud noise” may be heard from the 33 engines in the area. “But what people will experience also depends on the weather and other conditions.”
The Starship The spacecraft in question set off for an unmanned test launch for the first time in mid-April – and exploded and shattered four minutes later.
On April 20, the first “Starship” exploded shortly after takeoff
(Photo: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP)
Billionaire Musk, whose space company SpaceX developed the rocket system Starship developed and built, did not see this as a setback, but as an “exciting test start”. Musk had always emphasized that the next test start should follow as soon as possible.
The US aviation authority FAA had investigated the incident and called for numerous improvement measures as a condition for such a next test start. SpaceX announced that it had implemented numerous improvements and changes.
The Starship – consisting of the approximately 70 meter long booster Super heavy and the around 50 meter long one too Starship called upper stage – is intended to enable manned missions to the Moon and Mars. If everything goes well, the spacecraft and rocket should be able to be reused after returning to Earth. The system, which is around 120 meters long in total, will be able to transport well over 100 tons of cargo in the future. With the Starship NASA wants to put astronauts on the moon. SpaceX hopes to one day get to Mars.