SpaceX’s first attempt on Monday to launch Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, was canceled. That’s unusual – many flights of new rockets have been scrubbed multiple times in early attempts to land.
But the company says it’s ready to try again. Here’s what you need to know about your next launch attempt.
When is the launch, and how can I watch it?
SpaceX has scheduled the flight for as early as 9:28 a.m. Eastern time, and it could launch anytime between then and 10:30 a.m. from the company’s launch site in South Texas.
SpaceX says it will start a livestream on its YouTube channel approximately 45 minutes before the rocket is ready for liftoff.
In a livestream for another SpaceX launch on Wednesday, the company noted that another Starship delay is possible.
“If we make an attempt tomorrow, the chance of scrubs is high,” said Jessie Anderson, a SpaceX engineer who also hosts some of the company’s webcasts.
Is the launch attempt really on April 20?
Yes, yes it is.
Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that SpaceX, the spaceflight company founded by Elon Musk, fires a rocket on the 20th day of the fourth month of this year.
Maybe. Then again, many observers have noted Mr. Musk inserting references to “420,” a number associated with cannabis, into his public dealings. Examples include the purchase price per share he proposed for Twitter ($54.20) and the share price at which he said he would take his electric car manufacturing company, Tesla, private ($420).
Who can tell?
Why didn’t Starship launch on Monday?
There was a problem with a valve in the Super Heavy’s pressure system, the booster that helps the Starship get into orbit — it apparently froze. After checking the stuck valve and refreshing the liquid methane and oxygen propellants needed to fuel the Starship, SpaceX determined it was ready to launch again on Thursday.
“It seems like some kind of a scene out of science fiction,” said Phil Larson, the chief government affairs officer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory standing on the beach at South Padre Island, just north of the site of launching. “Kids playing in the water and a huge rocket in the distance.”
Mr. Larson, who worked at SpaceX when Mr. Musk plans for a Mars ship in 2016, said he was not disappointed when the launch was canceled.
“I didn’t expect it to go,” Mr. Larson said.
What is Starship?
It was the tallest rocket ever built — 394 feet tall, or nearly 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal.
And it has the most engines in a rocket booster: The Super Heavy, the lower section that will propel the Starship vehicle into orbit, has SpaceX’s 33 powerful Raptor engines popping out from under it. They are able to generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full throttle, more than the Saturn V that carried the Apollo astronauts to the moon.
Launch
SpaceX Starbase
Boca Chica, Texas
The Starship is designed to be fully reusable. The Super Heavy booster is expected to land similarly to SpaceX’s smaller Falcon 9 rockets, and the Starship will return from space floating through the atmosphere like a sky diver before pivoting into a vertical position for landing.
Why is SpaceX building the Starship?
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is the world’s most frequently launched rocket. Starship is the next step. It will be able to carry more cargo and more people than the Falcon 9. And because it is fully reusable, the Starship will greatly reduce the cost of launching payloads into orbit.
NASA is paying SpaceX to develop a version of the vehicle that will transport astronauts from lunar orbit to the lunar surface for the Artemis III and IV missions over the next decade. The spacecraft is also central to the vision of Mr. Musk on sending people to Mars.
What happens on the flight?
For Thursday’s test flight, the Starship will fly roughly around Earth, starting in Texas and splashing in the waters of Hawaii.
About eight minutes after Thursday’s launch, the Super Heavy booster will blast off in the Gulf of Mexico. The Starship will fly higher in space, reaching an altitude of about 150 miles and traveling around Earth before re-entering the atmosphere. If it survives reentry, about 90 minutes after launch, it will splash into the Pacific Ocean about 62 miles north of the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
But with all the new systems in the Starship, the founder of SpaceX recognized the difficulties in achieving all the goals of the flight.
“There are a million ways this rocket could fail,” said Mr. Musk. “I could go on for hours.”