Just 20 minutes prior to the launch, SpaceX Principal Integration Engineer, John Insprucker, said Starship’s first stage team is “working on a pressurisation issue,” which would have prevented the launch if unresolved.
The cancellation was confirmed by Musk who took to Twitter to announce that one of the Super Heavy Rocket’s pressure valves “appears to be frozen.”
Instead, the launch procedure will continue as normal right up until the countdown would have regularly begun, carrying on the day as a ‘wet dress rehearsal’ instead.
The next launch attempt will come no sooner than Wednesday, a minimum of 48 hours is required to reset the rocket and systems involved for another attempt. SpaceX’s Kate Tice commented, “We’re not quite sure what that timing will be,” in regards to future launch date and time, noting that it will largely be dependent on data SpaceX gathered from the first launch attempt.
