SpaceX’s Starship V3, dubbed the tallest and most powerful space rocket ever built, is set to attempt to launch tonight, May 22. Starship V3, uncrewed and featuring dozens of upgrades tailored for rapid Starlink satellite launches and NASA moon missions, was meant to launch on Thursday, but the take-off was called off at the 11th hour.
Elon Musk, SpaceX founder, said on X that the hydraulic pin on one of the launch tower’s giant mechanical arms did not retract as designed yesterday, prompting the decision to cancel the launch. He said on May 21: “If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow.” Now, SpaceX is preparing for the take-off of Starship during a 90-minute launch window, which opens at 5.30pm Central Time (11.30pm BST) on Friday. Before the launch attempt on Thursday, Mr Musk sought to temper expectations in case of failure, saying: “There is a large pipeline of V3 ships and boosters in the factory.” He said a failure would not affect the cadence of future Starship test launches “by more than a month or so.”
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