The first test orbital flight of the Starship was canceled for technical reasons
The American company SpaceX canceled on Monday the first launch into orbit of a prototype of the Starship spacecraft for technical reasons. The broadcast is conducted on the company's website.
The reason for the cancellation was the failure of one of the fuel system discharge valves, a company representative said during the broadcast. To try again, it will be necessary to replace all the fuel on board the ship, which will take at least 48 hours. The timing of the new launch has not yet been determined, TASS notes.
Spare "windows" for the launch are set for April 18 and 19, but it is not yet known whether the company's engineers will have time to prepare the ship for flight in the remaining time. The launch of the 120-meter rocket from the launch pad in Boca Chica (Texas) was scheduled to take place at 08:20 local time.
The reusable Starship spacecraft is designed for flights to Mars and is designed for 100 people. The prototypes of the ship have already made test flights several times with a return to Earth, but so far they have passed within the Earth's atmosphere. Of all the Starship flight tests, only the last one, which took place in May 2021, passed without destroying the device.
ORIENT news
