​SpaceX will try to launch the Starship system again on Thursday for the first flight of the world’s most powerful rocket. During tests on Monday, there were problems with a valve, so the launch was canceled nine minutes before the engines were supposed to start.

The next attempt will be on Thursday, April 20, in a “window” of 62 minutes, between 16:28 and 17:30 (Romanian time). Texas local time will be between 9:28-10:30.

The Starship system is 120 meters tall and fully reusable, making it extremely important for future space exploration, given that neither the SLS nor Ariane rockets are reusable. If things go well, the cost of space launches will drop significantly.

Less than 3 minutes after launch, the Super Heavy segment should detach from the Starship, and the Super Heavy should fly for another 6 minutes before landing in the Gulf of Mexico, where it will be removed.

The Starship will enter orbit, and then must return safely to the ocean, somewhere in the area of ​​the Hawaiian Islands.

The Starship system had been assembled at the launch site in Boca Chica since April 5, the first launch attempt was made on April 17, but there was a problem with the boost of one of the valves on the first stage.

SpaceX is tight-lipped about expectations and says that since this is the first test of the full Starship system, it’s normal for problems to arise.

Putting the Starship system into orbit is a technically complex step, so many components were tested separately. Everything needs to be fixed, hence the delays, because it was about making the first orbital test already in 2020 and 2021.

So far, the components of the Starship system have been tested separately: some successfully returned to Earth, others exploded.

Musk announced the name Starship in September 2018, talking about the structure of the system, with the help of which in the distant future, in more powerful versions of the rocket, people will be able to reach Mars. Five years ago, the future rocket was known as the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR).

The system consists of two parts: the Starship is the spacecraft/booster, and the Super Heavy is the booster (rocket engine) needed to escape Earth’s gravity.

1. The Starship is 50 meters tall and 9 meters in diameter and has a large cargo bay and six Raptor engines. The prototype Starship used in this first flight is called Ship 24.

2. Elon Musk described the Super Heavy as “the largest flying object ever created.” It has 33 Raptor engines and is a super powerful missile. The Super Heavy stage is 69 meters tall and will have a tank capacity of 3,400 tons of fuel, nearly three times that of the Starship stage. The next generations will have a capacity of 3,800 tons.

The Super Heavy prototype that will be used in the first orbital flight is called Booster 7.