SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the scrub was called after a valve on the rocket’s first stage froze, leading to a pressurization issue. Despite the setback, Musk said that the company “learned a lot today” and that it would try again “in a few days.”
After the delay was announced, SpaceX used the time to practice loading the rocket and spacecraft with some 10 million pounds of very cold propellant in what’s known as a “wet dress rehearsal.” The liquid methane fuel is kept at minus-272 degrees Fahrenheit, making the loading process complicated.
On Sunday evening, Musk warned that the company would proceed very cautiously and that a postponement was highly likely.
“We’re going to be very careful, and if we see anything that gives us concern, we will postpone the launch,” he said during a talk on Twitter Spaces.
If the rocket gets “far enough away from the launchpad before something goes wrong, then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just don’t blow up the launchpad.”
Losing “the launchpad is really the thing we’re concerned about,” he said. “It will take us probably several months to rebuild the launchpad if we melt it.”
Standing at nearly 400 feet tall, the Super Heavy booster and Starship spacecraft would have more power than NASA’s Space Launch System, which also had to wave off its first launch attempt because of technical challenges.
SpaceX is hoping to get Starship flying so that it can deliver its next-generation Starlink satellites to orbit. The satellites beam internet signals to ground stations to provide connectivity in remote areas around the world.
NASA is also depending on Starship. In 2021, it awarded SpaceX a $2.9 billion contract to use the vehicle to land its astronauts on the moon. It since has awarded SpaceX another contract, worth $1.15 billion, for a second landing.
