SpaceX called off the first test launch of its integrated Starship spacecraft this morning, citing a frozen pressurization valve.
The company said it will wait at least 48 hours before making another launch attempt from its Starbase facility in Boca Chica, Texas.
- If successful, it would be the first time that the 400-foot Starship cruise vessel takes flight atop SpaceX's Super Heavy rocket.
- The inaugural flight test would propel the system in a “nearly orbital” trajectory over the Gulf of Mexico, with the Super Heavy booster splashing down about 20 miles off the coast of Boca Chica.
- The Starship vehicle would continue on to perform nearly one orbit around the globe before splashing down off the coast of Hawaii.
- Starship, the most powerful launch vehicle on the planet, is expected to eventually carry cargo and humans to the moon and Mars.
- NASA has hired SpaceX to develop another Starship version for a future crewed mission to the lunar surface.
