SpaceX set for Monday test flight of giant Starship rocket
Written by ABC AUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on April 17, 2023
(BOCA CHICA, Texas) — SpaceX is set for a Monday morning launch of its powerful Starship rocket — which is expected to eventually carry passengers to the moon and Mars.
The uncrewed launch of the world’s largest rocket will mark the first flight test of a “fully integrated” Starship spacecraft and the so-called Super Heavy rocket, SpaceX said.
The 150-minute test window opened at 7 a.m. CT Monday, SpaceX said and is currently aiming for a 8:20 a.m. CT launch. A live webcast of the flight test began 45 minutes before expected liftoff.
The timing comes after the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday approved SpaceX’s launch of the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket from a remote site on the southernmost tip of Texas near Boca Chica Beach.
“Success maybe, excitement guaranteed!” SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted Friday night.
During a Twitter “Spaces” event for subscribers Sunday evening, Musk warned to set expectations “low.”
Following blastoff, the first stage of the Super Heavy rocket is expected to splash down about 20 miles off the coast of Boca Chica while the Starship vehicle orbits around the globe before splashing down off the coast of Hawaii.
For this first flight test, SpaceX said it will not attempt a vertical landing of Starship or a catch of the booster.
SpaceX said this flight test will “inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship,” which is designed to carry up to 100 people on long-duration, interplanetary flights.
NASA has already announced plans to use a Starship to put astronauts on the lunar surface in 2025.
ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
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