SpaceX calls off Starship rocket launch

Elon Musk's SpaceX was forced to delay its first launch attempt of its giant Starship rocket due to a technical issue, the company said on Monday.

The rocket, the biggest and most powerful ever built, was supposed to launch Monday morning from SpaceX's private spaceport, Starbase, in southern Texas.

It is designed to carry cargo and people to the moon and Mars. The SpaceX "team is working towards next available opportunity," the company said in a statement.

Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of the company, tweeted that a "pressurant valve" on the rocket system appeared to be frozen and they were standing down from launching the rocket into space Monday.

Taller than the Statue of Liberty

Starship is the tallest rocket system ever built — 120 meters (394 feet) tall, or about 10 meters taller than Saturn V that took the first human crew to the moon in 1969. In comparison, the Statue of Liberty together with its pedestal is 93 meters tall.

The SpaceX rocket system has 33 main engines — the most engines ever in a rocket booster — that can generate 16.7 million pounds of thrust at full throttle. Known as the Super Heavy booster, this part of the spacecraft accounts for 50 meters (164 feet) of its height and propels the upper rocket into orbit.

SpaceX in February completed a test firing of the Super Heavy booster and has completed a number of suborbital tests. Now, the company is set to launch the Starship's two sections together.

The California-based aerospace company is focusing on returning astronauts to the moon for now, having won a nearly $3 billion (€2.7 billion) contract from NASA in 2021. NASA is hoping to land astronauts on the moon using the spacecraft in 2025, which would be the first astronaut lunar landing in over 50 years.

What to know about the flight 

The test flight was set to last 90 minutes. Once the rocket does launch, its Super Heavy booster is set to separate from Starship about three minutes later and splash down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The spacecraft would continue eastward, passing over the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans before splashing down in waters near the US state of Hawaii.

Starship is designed to be fully reusable but nothing will be saved from the test flight. 

With a fleet of Starships under construction at Starbase site, Musk estimates an 80% chance that one of them will attain orbit by year’s end. He expects it will take a couple years to achieve full and rapid reusability. 

Musk sets expectations low, guarantees 'excitement'

Last month, Musk tried to manage expectations for the much-anticipated test.

"I’m not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement. It won’t be boring," he said. "I think it's got, I don't know, hopefully about a 50% chance of reaching orbit."

Then, on Sunday, Musk said he wanted to "set expectations low" because "probably tomorrow will not be successful — if by successful one means reaching orbit." 

"The payload for this mission is information," Musk said. "Information that allows us to improve the design of future Starship builds," he added. 

rm/dj (Reuters, AP)