NASA expects the SpaceX Starship to land astronauts on the moon, as soon as 2026.
The largest rocket ever built — standing 397 feet high (with its booster) and powered by a whopping 33 engines — still has a long road ahead before it’s operational. But SpaceX is making progress. The commercial space company, known for revolutionizing rocketry by building reusable rockets that land back on Earth, has announced Starship’s third test flight at 9:25 a.m. ET on March 14 — and you can watch it live.
The test is a high-altitude demonstration that, if all goes as planned, will see the spacecraft blast-off from its Boca Chica launchpad, separate from its rocket booster, coast in Earth’s orbit, and reenter the atmosphere, ultimately falling into the Indian Ocean.
Amid the journey, SpaceX says it will test out a number of “ambitious challenges,” including the transfer of 11 tons of fuel between tanks as the craft is coasting in space.
Crucially, the space exploration company has tempered expectations for these launches, and rightfully so. Starship isn’t nearly a finished vehicle. It’s still in the demonstration phase. The first launch test in April 2023 saw Starship fly for around three minutes before SpaceX deliberately destroyed the wayward rocket. The second launch in November 2023 saw Starship explode at around eight minutes into flight after an engine problem triggered the craft’s flight termination system.
The Elon Musk-owned company said that its Starship progress is in “rapid iterative development” as the company tests the craft and makes the necessary modifications. One day, SpaceX plans for Starship to be “a fully reusable launch system capable of carrying satellites, payloads, crew, and cargo to a variety of orbits and Earth, lunar, and Martian landing sites.”
How to watch the SpaceX Starship launch
You can watch the third Starship test directly on the SpaceX website or on its X account page. The webcast will begin 30 minutes before liftoff.
You’ll be watching a major player in the future of spaceflight.
UPDATE: Mar. 14, 2024, 8:33 a.m. EDT The launch, originally scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET, has been delayed to approximately 9:25 a.m. ET as SpaceX monitors wind conditions.
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