Starship will not fly into space today due to an emergency replacement of a component stabilising the descent of a Super Heavy rocket

Yesterday, the Federal Aviation Administration officially confirmed that Starship will go into space on 17 November. Twenty-four hours have passed and Elon Musk has announced that the mission has been postponed until tomorrow.

Here's What We Know

During maintenance, a wing malfunction was discovered. It provides stabilisation of the descent and guides the Super Heavy rocket to the target point during the return to the ground. In addition, these fins are used by cranes to grab the booster after landing.

The 72-metre booster could complete the mission even with a faulty wing, as SpaceX has no plans to make a soft landing. The Super Heavy will descend into the Gulf of Mexico seven minutes after liftoff. No soft landing of Starship is planned either. The orbital flight will last for 90 minutes and then the 50-metre spacecraft will descend into the Pacific Ocean.

The launch window was expected to open at 09:00 (EDT) or 06:00 (PDT) today, and SpaceX will have two hours to launch the rocket system. Due to an emergency replacement of one component, the launch was pushed back 24 hours. That said, the launch window will only be open for 20 minutes.

Source: @elonmusk