Texas, April 17 (BNA): Elon Musk’s SpaceX made its final preparations early Monday to launch its powerful new Starship rocket system into space for the first time, on a short but highly anticipated uncrewed test flight from the Texas Gulf Coast.
The two-stage rocket, which stands 394 feet (120 meters) higher than the Statue of Liberty, was scheduled to launch from the SpaceX facility in Boca Chica, Texas, during a two-hour launch window that opens at 8 a.m. EST (12 :00 GMT).
The test mission, whether or not its goals are fully achieved, represents a milestone in SpaceX’s ambition to return humans to the Moon and eventually to Mars, and is also the central goal of NASA’s renewed spaceflight program aimed at spacecraft integration. .
But SpaceX faces enormous challenges just launching a spacecraft that, if successfully launched from Earth, will instantly become the most powerful rocket on Earth.
“Success is not what should be expected,” Musk told a private audience on Twitter Sunday night, saying the best-case scenario would provide critical data about how the spacecraft goes up into space and how it returns to Earth.
“It’s probably not going to be successful tomorrow, it’s just a very difficult thing,” he said.
Earlier Sunday, the California-based company said on Twitter that its launch teams are moving ahead with flight preparations, while closely monitoring potential wind shear conditions in the forecast that could lead to delays.
It is “more likely” that the flight will be delayed rather than launched on Monday, Musk said Sunday evening. SpaceX has backup operating windows on Tuesday and Wednesday around the same times.
WWA