Simply earlier than sundown this night (Nov. 19) on the outskirts of the southernmost city in Texas, SpaceX’s Starship rocket is scheduled to launch on its sixth check flight to area, and you’ll watch it reside on House.com.
The 2-stage reusable car is the biggest and strongest rocket ever constructed, consisting of the Starship higher stage and its Tremendous Heavy booster. At this time’s launch, designated Built-in Flight Check-6 (IFT-6), is scheduled to elevate off throughout a 30-minute window that opens at 5:00 p.m. EST (2100 GMT; 4 p.m. native Texas time).
This will probably be SpaceX’s second Starship launch in as many months, having efficiently flown IFT-5 on Oct. 13. At this time’s launch will largely mirror that the majority latest flight, with the return and catch of the Tremendous Heavy booster utilizing the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms, and a managed splashdown of Starship within the Indian Ocean.
The livestream for SpaceX’s Starship Flight 6 will start half-hour earlier than the opening of the launch window, round 4:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT). SpaceX’s official stream might be discovered via the corporate’s X account, which will probably be simulcast on the House.com YouTube channel, VideoFromSpace. Reside protection of the launch may also seem on the high of the House.com homepage.
Associated: SpaceX rolls Starship Flight 6 Tremendous Heavy rocket to pad forward of Nov. 19 launch (photographs)
Constructing on the success of IFT-5, right this moment’s Starship launch may also try and carry out a boost-back and chopstick arm catch of the Tremendous Heavy booster. The Starship higher stage has new goals not included in its final flight, together with, “reigniting a [Star]ship Raptor engine whereas in area, and testing a collection of heatshield experiments and maneuvering adjustments for ship reentry and descent over the Indian Ocean,” the corporate wrote in a mission description.
Tremendous Heavy and Starship have been individually transported to the pad at SpaceX’s Starbase facility in southern Texas final week, the place the 2 have been stacked in preparation for right this moment’s launch. Mixed, the built-in Starship rocket stands practically 400 ft (122 meters) tall, with a diameter of 30 ft (9 m). As soon as in operation, it’s anticipated that Starship will probably be able to lifting payloads as much as 100 tons to low Earth orbit, and transporting crews to the floor of the moon and Mars.
NASA is relying on that functionality as part of its Artemis program. SpaceX was awarded NASA’s first Human Touchdown Providers contract in 2021, tapping Starship because the lunar lander for Artemis 3, which can return NASA astronauts to the floor of the moon for the primary time for the reason that finish of the Apollo missions, in 1972. Artemis 3 is at present scheduled to launch in September 2025.
The area company’s vested curiosity in Starship’s success comes alongside doable delays to each Artemis 3 and its predecessor Artemis 2, which face uncertainty as injury to Orion’s warmth defend on Artemis 1 is below scrutiny from the NASA inspector common.
