SpaceX founder Elon Musk has announced that the Starship spacecraft, designed to fly to the Moon and Mars, is ready for the first orbital launch.. The businessman made the corresponding statement on his Twitter page..

Musk added that the company is now waiting for the permission of the regulator to conduct the flight.. According to preliminary data, it can take place as early as mid-April..

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Starship is ready to launch? Awaiting regulatory approval.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 9, 2023.

The Starship prototype has already been installed on a launch vehicle at a spaceport in South Texas.. According to the flight program, he must make a revolution around the Earth and splash down in the Pacific Ocean.

Previously, Musk estimated the probability of success of the first orbital flight of the ship at 50%..

Starship is being developed as a reusable spacecraft to deliver cargo and people to the Moon, Mars and other deep space objects.. NASA has already signed a contract with the company to deliver people to the moon with it as part of the Artemis program..

The vehicle consists of two fully reusable elements: a first-stage booster called Super Heavy and a 50-meter-tall spacecraft known as Starship.. Both will be powered by SpaceX's next-generation Raptor engine - six for Starship and about 30 for Super Heavy..

On the night of May 6, 2021, SpaceX successfully conducted a test flight of the Starship prototype. The ship repeated the testing program for Starship prototypes SN8 and SN9, which crashed on landing after a suborbital flight, as well as SN10, which exploded seven minutes after a successful landing due to damage received..