By MARCIA DUNN (AP Aerospace Writer)
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX referred to as off the primary launch try of its big rocket Monday after an issue cropped up throughout fueling.
Elon Musk’s firm had deliberate to fly the almost 400-foot Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas, close to the Mexican border.
The countdown was halted on the 40-second mark due to a caught valve within the first-stage booster. Launch controllers couldn’t repair the frozen valve in time, and canceled the try. The countdown continued, and fueling was accomplished, as a costume rehearsal.
No folks or satellites have been aboard. There received’t be one other strive till at the least Wednesday.
“Learned a lot today,” Musk tweeted after the flight was postponed.
The firm plans to make use of Starship to ship folks and cargo to the moon and, in the end, Mars.
On the eve of the launch try, vehicles, campers, RVs and even bicycles and horses jammed the one highway resulting in the launch pad, the place the chrome steel rocket towered above the flat scrubland and prairie. Enthusiasts posed in entrance of the enormous letters that spelled out Starbase on the entrance of the SpaceX advanced, and in entrance of the rocket two miles farther down the highway, which ended on the gulf.
On Monday, spectators have been barred from the realm, and as a substitute packed a seaside about six miles away on South Padre Island.
Ernesto and Maria Carreon drove two hours from Mission, Texas, with their two daughters, 5 and seven, to observe.
“I got sad. They got sad,” when the launch try was canceled, Maria Carreon mentioned.
They can’t return for the following strive however deliberate to have enjoyable on the seaside Monday.
Michelle Vancampenhout, on trip from Green Bay, Wisconsin, mentioned she’ll be again.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience to see it,” she mentioned.
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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives assist from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely liable for all content material.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”