“Success possible, excitement guaranteed,” writes SpaceX-CEO Elon Musk on twitter. “In a test like this, success is measured by how much we can learn,” says SpaceX. If this Monday the most powerful and largest rocket ever built takes off for the first time, it is completely unclear how the first attempt to start will end.
In any case, it is planned that the huge space vehicle launches into orbit on Monday. About 3 minutes after the launch, the Super-Heavy-Booster from the Starship spaceship separate and fall in the Gulf of Mexico. The Starship is scheduled to fly on and reach Earth orbit before the vehicle touches water in the Pacific Ocean.
When does the rocket launch?
There is one to start with 150 minute time slot that is today Monday at 3:00 p.m (CEST) opens. It is still unclear when the 33 Raptor engines will actually ignite. As with all rocket launches, it cannot be ruled out that the launch may be due to weather conditions or technical problem must be postponed.
In any case, SpaceX will broadcast the launch live. The Livestream im SpaceX-YouTube-Kanal started 45 minutes before launch. The space company will provide any updates on the historic launch his twitter channel provide.
Numerous cameras are already pointed at the launch pad at the test site in Boca Chica, Texas, and are transmitting the images as well live on YouTube.
Biggest Rocket
119 Meter the heavy-duty rocket rises into the air. NASA’s retired Saturn V rocket, used on the moon landings from the 1960s, reached an altitude of 110 meters.
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS Block 1), currently the most powerful rocket that has already flown into orbit, is 98 meters high. For the relation: The top of Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral is at a height of 137 meters.
High payload
Die SLS or the Saturn V are designed to fly direct from Earth to their destinations. In the Starship-Rakete the plans envisage that it first flies into orbit, there again refueled and then sets off for the actual goal. That’s supposed to be the SpaceX rocket one 5 times higher payload lend than the SLS rocket in its final stage of development.
So it is possible with the Starship, a 100 ton object on the surface of one Jupiter-Worlds or to Mars to bring, claims SpaceX founder Elon Musk. A current SLS rocket can only carry such a heavy cargo to low earth orbit (LEO).
100 people at the same time to the moon
The Starship rocket’s LEO payload is included, according to Musk 150 tons. The starting thrust generated by the rocket is with 62.000 kN (kilonewtons) is about twice as high as that of the SLS or Saturn V rocket.
With the combination of high payload and ample space in the cargo hold, it is theoretically possible to fly a whole Great on the Mars Rover to bring to the red planet. In addition, the Starship up to 100 people can be transported at the same time – for example to a base on the moon.
