SpaceX scrubs Starship launch attempt over pressurization issue

April 17 (UPI) -- SpaceX scrubbed its critical test flight of the hulking Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket from Texas because of a pressurization issue in the first stage of the rocket that cropped up in the final minutes before launch on Monday morning.

Excitement had been building for the rocket, which is one of the largest vehicles ever sent into space and a step toward sending a manned mission to Mars. Instead, SpaceX officials turned the event into a "wet dress rehearsal."

It wasn't immediately clear when SpaceX would make another attempt, with CEO Elon Musk saying on Twitter that it would retry "in a few days."

The 90-minute test flight was expected to allow SpaceX to test out key controls through a number of maneuvers. The company sees the space vehicle as the key to eventually going to Mars, with a rocket that is powerful enough to get everything it needs for such a trip into space.

The 394-foot rocket consists of the first-stage booster, called Super Heavy, and an upper-stage spacecraft known as Starship.

"Starship is a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo to Earth orbit, help humanity return to the moon, and travel to Mars and beyond," SpaceX said in a statement.

"With a test such as this, success is measured by how much we can learn, which will inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances the development of Starship."

When SpaceX moves forward with the flight from its Starbase near Boca Chica, Texas, the rocket is to fly over the Gulf of Mexico and head to the Pacific Ocean where it will splash down near Hawaii. While in flight, SpaceX will see how the spacecraft performs with numerous commands.

All eyes will be on SpaceX's innovative and complicated Raptor engines, which have yet to make it into space. In February, 31 of the 33 engines in the Booster 7 worked during a test. SpaceX founder Elon Musk, though, called it a success at the time.

"Team turned off one engine just before start and one stopped itself, so 31 engines fired overall," he said then. "But still enough engines to reach orbit! One day, Starship will take us to Mars."