SpaceX takes second shot at launching biggest rocket
SpaceX is trying for the second time this week to launch the biggest and most powerful rocket in the world, the Falcon Heavy.
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SpaceX Starship, the largest and most powerful rocket in the world, is ready to launch on Sunday, April 16th, 2023. The test launch will take place on Monday.
Eric Gay/AP
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SpaceX's Starship rocket is seen as it prepares for its launch from Starbase Boca Chica in Texas on Monday, April 17 2023.
Eric Gay/AP
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SOUTH PADRE ISLAND (Texas) (AP). -- SpaceX is preparing to launch its biggest and most powerful rocket on Thursday. The company has been working nonstop since the first attempt at a test was unsuccessful earlier this week.
Starship, a nearly 400-foot-long (120-meter-long) spacecraft, was set to launch from Texas' southern tip near the border with Mexico. Elon Musk, SpaceX's CEO, said that the odds were 50-50 for the spacecraft to reach orbit when it made its debut.
No rocket parts will be recovered. If all goes according to plan, the Super Heavy booster will be dropped into the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft would then continue on an easterly course, crossing the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, before landing near Hawaii. If the flight is successful, it will last only 1 1/2 hours.
Starship will be used to transport people and cargo from Earth to the Moon and eventually Mars. NASA has reserved Starships for its next team of moonwalkers, and wealthy tourists have already booked lunar flybys.
Monday's launch was canceled due to a stuck booster valve. On the night before the second launch, hundreds of space enthusiasts returned to the Boca Chica Beach launch site and took more selfies.
Bob Drwal and his wife Donna drove from Chicago to attend the event.
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