On April 20, Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, exploded during its maiden flight and failed to reach orbit after it was launched from South Texas. The Starship capsule was supposed to split from the first-stage rocket booster three minutes into the flight, but this did not happen, and the rocket exploded.
Even though the spacecraft was unable to enter orbit, the failure was not fatal. Elon Musk had downplayed expectations prior to the launch, indicating that it might take several attempts for Starship to be successful at this test flight, which meant reaching enough high speeds to enter orbit before crashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.
On April 17, the maiden launch of SpaceX’s Starship was called off at the last minute due to a pressurisation problem in the first stage.
The scheduled launch of the most powerful rocket ever constructed has been scrubbed after engineers could not troubleshoot a pressurisation issue with the massive Super Heavy booster in time.
The launch of the most powerful rocket ever built was cancelled because engineers could not resolve a pressurisation issue in time with the enormous Super Heavy booster.
As per the reports, the countdown clock had less than 10 minutes on it, and SpaceX engineer John Insprucker said they would work to decide when the next attempt would take place.
SpaceX is extending the countdown clock and rehearsing for the next launch attempt. They had planned a launch window for April 18, opening at 7 am CT (8 am ET), but recycling compelled them to wait at least 48 hours longer.
They will perform a “recycle” on the rocket, removing the super-chilled fuel and preparing it for another attempt.
After years of testing, it was SpaceX’s first attempt to launch its Starship rocket.
Musk described Starship as the vehicle that underpins the company’s original mission of delivering humans to Mars for the first time. The first flight test will cover nearly one full lap of the globe, finishing with a splashdown off the coast of Hawaii.
Nonetheless, Elon complimented his crew on an “exciting” test of the spacecraft planned to transport passengers to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
(With inputs from ANI)
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