Elon Musk sets expectations low before SpaceX Starship test flight

The most powerful rocket ever built is ready for its first test flight, with its makers SpaceX hoping the launch from Texas will be the initial step on a human journey back to the moon and eventually Mars.

After last-minute approval from the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday, the Starship rocket system could blast off after 8am local time (2pm in the UK). At 120 metres, it is almost as long as three passenger jets and 10 metres taller than the Saturn V rocket that sent humans to the moon in 1969

The uncrewed orbital test will see for the first time the Starship cruise vessel, which will eventually carry astronauts, on top of the Super Heavy booster rocket, whose 33 Raptor engines will provide the immense thrust needed.

Both the upper and lower stages of the rocket system are designed to power themselves safely back to Earth for a soft landing so they can be reused, but the plan on Monday is that both will fall into the sea. Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, says the reusability of rockets makes space flight significantly cheaper than what Nasa could offer.

Musk said on Sunday night that expectations should remain low for the Starship system, which is designed to have almost double the thrust of any rocket in history.

“Success is not what should be expected,” he said, adding that his team was looking to gather data about how the vehicle ascended to space and returned back to Earth. “Probably, tomorrow will not be successful,” Musk said. “It’s just a very fundamentally difficult thing.”

High winds could also delay the launch.

Unlike Nasa, which attempts to avoid risk, SpaceX has a track record of showing a willingness to have test flights explode, with Musk saying the private venture benefits from understanding what goes wrong. Additional rockets are already being made for future test flights.

Prototypes of the Starship have made several subspace test flights above Earth in recent years, but the much larger Super Heavy booster has never left the ground.

Reuters contributed to this report.