Ready For Blast Off? Elon Musk Teases SpaceX Starship's April 17 Launch, Says 'Excitement Guaranteed'

On Friday, Elon Musk and SpaceX’s Starship rocket was cleared for launch by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which is responsible for licensing commercial rocket launches. 
What Happened: In a tweet, SpaceX said that it was “targeting as soon as Monday, April 17 for the first flight test of a fully integrated Starship and Super Heavy rocket from Starbase in Texas.”
Soon after SpaceX put out the tweet, Musk teased the launch attempt on April 17, saying, “Success maybe, excitement guaranteed!” 

Success maybe, excitement guaranteed! https://t.co/LoDrBmHkQa

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 14, 2023

In March, the billionaire entrepreneur said that Starship's first launch attempt — touted to be “the biggest rocket ever” — would happen at the end of the third week of April. 
On April 17, “the 150-minute test window will open at 7:00 a.m. CT,” SpaceX announced on its website.
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,” according to the company.
Why It’s Important: This will be SpaceX’s first attempt to launch Starship into space, after years of testing the rocket's design. 
Additionally, as part of the Artemis program, NASA awarded SpaceX with a $2.89 billion contract to utilize Starship to ferry government astronauts to the moon's surface.

This illustration was generated using artificial intelligence via MidJourney.

Check out more of Benzinga's Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Elon Musk Says SpaceX To Deliver 80% Of Earth's Payload To Orbit This Year