SpaceX scrubbed the Monday morning liftoff of the first test launch of the company’s fully integrated Starship vehicle minutes before it was scheduled to occur.
The company pivoted to a “wet dress rehearsal” of the launch, broadcasters said on SpaceX’s live stream, continuing with preparations right up until 10 seconds before the scheduled launch. The launch will be postponed at least 48 hours.
“A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted.
If everything goes according to plan with the postponed launch, it will mark the first time the combined system – Super Heavy booster below and Starship vehicle on top – takes flight from Starbase, a SpaceX-owned facility just outside Brownsville, Texas. Previous test flights, which often ended explosively, only featured the Starship vehicle itself, but this time the combined 400-foot vehicle is taking flight.
After liftoff from Starbase, Starship and Super Heavy will fly east over the Gulf of Mexico. Once the booster’s job is done, it will attempt a soft landing in the waters of the Gulf. Starship will continue on through the Straits of Florida, perform nearly one orbit, and end in the Pacific Ocean with a controlled water landing of its own.
There is no customer payload flying on this demonstration mission. To date, SpaceX is estimated to have spent at least several billion dollars on the Starship program.