SpaceX has postponed the much-anticipated second launch of the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, Starship, by a day due to technical problems, Elon Musk, the American company’s boss, announced on Thursday.
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This second test flight is being closely scrutinized by NASA, which is relying on this spacecraft for its return trips to the moon after a first attempt in the spring ended in a massive explosion.
Elon Musk said on . “The start is therefore postponed to Saturday,” he concluded.
On April 20, Starship launched in its full configuration for the first time. But several engines malfunctioned and SpaceX intentionally blew up the rocket after four minutes.
The rocket disintegrated into a fireball and plunged into the Gulf of Mexico, sending a cloud of dust over a city several miles away.
Within seven months, the launch pad was rebuilt and a water flooding system was installed and tested. These streams of water that emerge when the engines start must dampen the sound waves and thus limit vibrations.
In the long term, SpaceX plans to reach the planet Mars with Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built.
But first, NASA expects SpaceX to deliver a modified version of the rocket so it can land on the moon as part of its Artemis missions.