Elon Musk has admitted he is not counting on the success of the first test flight of his Starship spacecraft scheduled for Monday, April 17. The businessman hinted that the launch would be postponed.
Musk’s statement, which he made the day before on his Twitter account (blocked in the Russian Federation), circulated in the media: “Success is not something to be counted on tomorrow. It would be madness.”
Reminder: SpaceX intends to send Starship into orbit at 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. (3:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Moscow time) using a Super Heavy launch vehicle, followed by their landing in the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico , respectively.
It is reported that Musk was unable to talk about the possible difficulties, but considers the motors to be the most vulnerable part of the design. The businessman has made it clear that he wants nothing more than to avoid a blast at the Texas launch site as preparing for a relaunch could take several months.
Musk also mentioned the Soviet N-1 rocket, which, like Starship, was intended to fly to the moon and beyond, but after several unsuccessful tests the project was closed.
“It was a rocket with a very impressive design, but it never went into orbit,” the SpaceX boss said.
Also remember that SpaceX is creating a reusable Starship spacecraft for deep space flights. According to Musk’s idea, this ship will be used to send people to the Moon and Mars. But Musk wouldn’t be Musk if he didn’t periodically throw “great news” to the world. So in February 2023 he said people will be able to land on the surface of Mars within 10 years. According to him, it is possible to land a man on Mars by 2028, and by 2033 such a scenario is even more likely.
A few years ago, an American billionaire unveiled his ambitious plan to colonize Mars. And not just anywhere, but at the congress of the International Astronautical Federation. Musk said: A city of over a million people will be created on the Red Planet, and space trains will run between Earth and Mars. In the first years, the system will be able to transport 100 people to Mars in one flight, then up to 150-200. Admittedly, he thought then that the first flight could take place as early as 2022.
Besides
Many years ago, Sergei Korolev’s closest associate, academician Boris Chertok, explained to RG correspondent why four successive launches of the N-1 lunar rocket mentioned by Elon Musk had failed. Here is an excerpt from that old interview:
Boris Evseevich, why have we lost the moon race again to the Americans? Why did four successive launches of the N-1 lunar rocket fail?
Boris Chertok: What was the main mistake? In the refusal of the ground tests of the first stage of the N-1 launcher. To do this, it was necessary to build a huge and very expensive shooting range. We decided not to build. And during the launches, these miscalculations appeared – constructive, technological, design, which should have appeared even during ground tests.
By the way, Valentin Petrovich Glushko perfectly took this mistake into account when he became the general designer and when creating the Energia rocket. He set a condition for the military-industrial commission: “Energiya” must undergo a full ground firing test. What’s new here! The whole ministry was against it. But Glushko fought to the death: either we build a stand, or I release myself from responsibility for the fact that the rocket will be created. And he won.
Who specifically ended the Lunar program?
Boris Chertok: There were a lot of arguments, discussions, meetings. A group gathered, led by Mstislav Vsevolodovich Keldysh. Minister of General Engineering Afanasiev and Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee for Defense Affairs Dmitry Fedorovich Ustinov were also present.
In fact, these three people came to the conclusion that after four failures, there was no point in continuing the moon race. The queen was gone. Vasily Pavlovich Mishin became the chief designer. We, the developers, have come up with a new, more powerful project. Americans in 1972 had already stopped flying to the moon. Therefore, it was clear: we will surpass them if we only build a base on the moon. And for this you need to have a slightly modified version of the launches. But this “trinity” did not agree with us. And we haven’t received any money.
Clearly only the Politburo could ultimately cover up the program.
Boris Chertok: I don’t know all the cuisine of the Central Committee. The end result matters. A resolution was adopted: to cover the development of the lunar program based on N-1. Write off losses in the amount of about 4.5 billion rubles and start new work.
To the development of the reusable “Energy-Buran” system?
Boris Chertok: Actually, Glushko was against Buran. He wanted to develop heavy rockets and not only build a base on the moon, but also make interplanetary travel. The “Energy” rocket turned out to be universal. The layout of the lunar city is still preserved. I guarantee you that without the reforms of the early 90s, we would already have a base on the moon.
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