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update 17.4. 2023 19:30: Start postponed to Thursday
No "Final Go" for the Starship on Monday. 40 seconds before liftoff, the countdown to the first test flight of SpaceX's new spacecraft into space was stopped. Apparently there was a problem with a pressure valve. A new start attempt is to be made on 20.4. give, so SpaceX on Twitter. There is a one-hour window between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. CEST.
"Let's hope that the next launch attempt will bring us to a successful burn and liftoff," German astronaut Matthias Maurer wrote via Twitter. For him, the test attempt on Monday was a "tempting teaser for what is to come".
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SpaceX plans to conduct "the first flight test of a fully integrated spacecraft and super-heavy rocket from the Texas Starbase" on Monday, April 17th. As the space company announced on its website, the 150-minute test window for the new Starship, the world's largest rocket, opens at 8:00 a.m. CT, which is 3 p.m. Central European Summer Time. The live stream of the start should start 45 minutes beforehand.
The US aviation authority FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) had previously determined after a comprehensive examination that SpaceX met all the requirements and issued a launch license for five years.
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Last year there was already a big race between the upcoming maiden flights of the Starship and the mega moon rocket SLS (Space Launch System) - after the start of the moon mission Artemis I it was clear who won the race. Since then, the Starship has felt like setting off on its round-the-world flight every month.
At the Boca Chica, Texas, spaceport, employees have been anxiously awaiting regulatory approval since Easter, SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted on Easter Sunday after SpaceX engineers completed a final flight readiness check for the massive Super Heavy and Starship launch system.
The SpaceX Starship 25 spacecraft
The SpaceX Starship 25 spacecraft is being prepared for engine testing. The picture was taken on February 7, 2023.
Image rights: IMAGO/NurPhoto
Largest rocket ever built
The Starship is the largest rocket ever built in human history. The Saturn V of the American space agency Nasa, which brought the Apollo astronauts to the moon, still holds the record for the largest rocket actually flown, at least until Monday.
SpaceX spaceship
SpaceX is preparing its Spacecraft 24 and Booster 7 for the first orbital flight on April 4, 2023 at the SpaceX orbital launch site in Brownsville, Texas.
Image rights: IMAGO/NurPhoto
The large carrier rockets include the European Ariane 5, whose rocket type completed its last rocket launch in its 27-year history with the Jupiter moon mission Juice. This rocket has a length of 54 meters. Its successor, Ariane 6, will also be around 60 meters long. The American competition, such as the Vulcan Centaur (61.6 meters) and Atlas V 551 (65.5 meters) launch vehicles, is also of this magnitude. At 70 and 71 meters, the Falcon Heavy (SpaceX) and the Delta Heavy IV are slightly larger.
At almost 111 meters, none of them come close to the Saturn V. Not even the SLS mega-lunar rocket, which was almost 99 meters high in its configuration for the launch of the Artemis I mission. But that will change with the launch of the Starship.
NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft taxi Tuesday, August 16, 2022 from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA's SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft taxied Tuesday, August 16, 2022 from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Complex 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Credit: IMAGO/UPI Photo
Although the spaceship is only 69 meters long, it will be on the Super Heavy booster rocket. Together with the booster, the Starship then measures 119 meters. The super-heavy first stage will be powered by 33 of SpaceX's new Raptor engines. The Starship itself, on the other hand, is equipped with six Raptors. Nevertheless, after its successful launch, the spacecraft will go down in history as the most powerful rocket. But that's not all. "The ship will likely extend another 10m or so," Musk tweeted April 8.
This is how the Starship will set off into space
If the