
SpaceX Starship, world's biggest rocket, set for first test flight
The Hindu
SpaceX is counting down to the first test flight on Monday of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars and beyond.
SpaceX is counting down to the first test flight on Monday of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, designed to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars and beyond.
The giant rocket is scheduled to blast off from Starbase, the SpaceX spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas, at 8:00 a.m. Central Time (1300 GMT).
Fallback times are scheduled for later in the week if Monday's launch attempt is delayed -- something billionaire SpaceX founder Elon Musk said is a distinct possibility.
"It's a very risky flight," Mr. Musk said in a live event on Twitter Spaces on Sunday. "It's the first launch of a very complicated, gigantic rocket.
"There's a million ways this rocket could fail," he added. "We're going to be very careful and if we see anything that gives us concern, we'll postpone."
Mr. Musk said he wanted to "set expectations low" because "probably tomorrow will not be successful -- if by successful one means reaching orbit."
The U.S. space agency NASA has picked the Starship spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the Moon in late 2025 -- a mission known as Artemis III -- for the first time since the Apollo program ended in 1972.

The Leela Palace Chennai presents the seven edition of Shefs at The Leela in collaboration with ‘Dean With Us’ — the mother-daughter duo of Rupali and Akansha Dean. The event honours the transformative role of Indian women chefs who are shaping the future of gastronomy. After past editions hosted across Bengaluru, Gurugram, Chennai, and Jaipur, the seventh edition in Chennai will bring together four women chefs — Sambhavi Joshi, Taiyaba Ali, Sehaj Ghuman and Bunuma Patagiri, who will bring their years of expertise into curating a menu that speaks both of their work and India’s diverse culinary heritage.