Elon Musk’s SpaceX scrubbed the first test flight for its Starship spacecraft — the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket – from its Starbase in Texas on Monday morning.
Crews identified a first-stage pressurization issue that prevented the 394-foot, stainless steel rocket from firing, but were still able to count down to T-minus 10 seconds as part of a “wet dress rehearsal,” SpaceX said.
“A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today,” Musk, CEO of SpaceX, wrote on Twitter.
SpaceX said the next attempted launch of the test flight would occur after 48 hours.
SPACEX CLEARED BY FAA TO TEST LAUNCH MASSIVE 394-FOOT STARSHIP
SpaceX is attempting to send the spacecraft atop the colossal booster around the world, from the southern tip of Texas all the way to Hawaii.
The first stage will be discarded in the Gulf of Mexico and the spacecraft into the Pacific. No landings will be attempted for this debut.
It will be the first launch attempt of a full-size Starship, made of shiny stainless steel and powered by methane-fueled engines.
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Musk envisions using Starships to send people to the moon and Mars. NASA has already signed up for a Starship to put astronauts on the lunar surface as early as 2025.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.