By Canadian Press

SpaceX launches giant new rocket on 1st test flight

Apr 20, 2023 | 7:48 AM

SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas (AP) — SpaceX’s new rocket, the biggest and most powerful ever built, blasted off Thursday on its first test flight, thundering into the South Texas sky in an attempt to orbit the world.

Elon Musk’s company launched the nearly 400-foot (120-meter) Starship rocket from the southern tip of Texas, near the Mexican border. The plan called for the booster to peel away and plummet into the Gulf of Mexico shortly after liftoff, with the spacecraft hurtling ever higher toward the east in a bid to circle the world, before crashing into the Pacific near Hawaii.

No people or satellites were aboard for this debut launch.

Throngs of spectators watched from several miles away from the Boca Chica Beach launch site, which was off-limits.

The company plans to use Starship to send people and cargo to the moon and, eventually, Mars. NASA has reserved a Starship for its next moonwalking team, and rich tourists are already booking lunar flybys.

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It was the second launch attempt. Monday’s try was scrapped by a frozen booster valve.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Marcia Dunn, The Associated Press