Elon Musk’s space company, SpaceX, will launch its first SpaceX Starship rocket system into space on Monday.
After completing all safety and environmental conditions, the Federal Aviation Administration granted Elon Musk’s business permission to launch its most powerful rocket system into orbit.
The Starship rocket is scheduled to launch for its first orbital test from Brownsville, Texas, at 8 a.m. Central Time (2 p.m. UK time) with the flight test window opening an hour before.
The event should be streamed live 45 minutes before lift-off.
Musk, on the other hand, set minimal expectations for the launch.
“Success if not what should be expected,” he said on Sunday night to a private Twitter audience.
According to him, the best-case scenario would reveal critical information on how the vehicle ascends to space and how it will fly back to Earth.
“Probably tomorrow will not be successful. It’s just a very fundamentally difficult thing.”
Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket system, sitting atop a massive Super Heavy booster for a combined height of 120m. It was originally seen in 2019.
Once operational, it will be used to launch satellites into orbit, and SpaceX founder, Elon Musk has stated that it will someday transport astronauts to the moon and even Mars.
Any launch this week, according to the millionaire, has a 50% probability of succeeding, but an 80% chance of reaching orbit by the end of the year.
The Super Heavy booster, which has 33 rocket engines, successfully completed a stationary launch test in February, generating enough power to reach orbit.
The second stage of the rocket system, which would eventually carry a crew of astronauts, would then be launched and complete a full orbit of the Earth before re-entering the atmosphere and splashing into the Pacific.
In the meantime, the first stage would be abandoned in the Gulf of Mexico.
The first test flight will not attempt any landings, and no satellites or humans will be aboard.
There are never assurances with space launches, given the possibility of technical difficulties or weather delays, but SpaceX is aiming for 8 a.m. Central Time (2 p.m. UK time).
