SpaceX delays Starship launch, Musk says pressurant valve appears frozen

Elon Musk's SpaceX Starship launch has been postponed by approx. 48 hours. The announcement was made by Twitter CEO through a tweet. He wrote, 'standing down from today’s flight test attempt; the team is working towards next available opportunity.'

Standing down from today’s flight test attempt; team is working towards next available opportunity

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 17, 2023

Further, a few minutes before the launch, Musk tweeted that, "A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today."

A pressurant valve appears to be frozen, so unless it starts operating soon, no launch today

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2023

With a test flight of its enormous Starship around the world, Elon Musk's SpaceX was ready to make its most ambitious leap yet. It is the largest and most powerful rocket ever created, and its grandiose objectives include carrying people to Mars and the moon.

However, the launch didn't go as planned. After announcing the delay, Musk again came to Twitter to tell people how he learned a lot on this day. He further said, the team is offloading propellant now.

Learned a lot today, now offloading propellant, retrying in a few days …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 17, 2023

The space company has been granted permission by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch its most potent rocket system. All safety and environmental requirements have been met by the rocket. Starship will launch from a launch pad in Brownsville, Texas, on a Super Heavy prototype named Booster 7. SpaceX in a tweet said, "Watch Starship’s first integrated flight test."

Watch Starship’s first integrated flight test → https://t.co/bJFjLCiTbK https://t.co/4qPqUqo2PP

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 17, 2023

'Success is measured by how much we can learn,' says SpaceX

The space company further said, "With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances [the] development of Starship."

With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship pic.twitter.com/2tf4jx3qRL

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) April 17, 2023

“I’m not saying it will get to orbit, but I am guaranteeing excitement. It won’t be boring,” SpaceX CEO Elon Musk promised at a Morgan Stanley conference last month. “I think it’s got, I don’t know, hopefully about a 50% chance of reaching orbit,” reported the Associated Press.