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SpaceX is set to launch one of its Starship rockets, considered the world’s biggest and tallest, months after another of the rockets exploded minutes after liftoff.
The second test launch will proceed after the company received authorization on Wednesday from the Federal Aviation Administration, which determined it met safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements.
It was set to take place Friday but was delayed after an actuator needed to be replaced on a grid fin, founder and CEO Elon Musk wrote on X. Grid fins are structures on the Super Heavy first stage, or booster of the launch system, and help steer it back to Earth.
Musk said a little after 4 p.m. Friday that the flight test is on track for Saturday morning.
Where will the rocket launch from and where can I watch it?
Starship will launch at SpaceX’s Starbase site in Boca Chica, near the city of Brownsville. The rocket could take flight beginning at 7 a.m. Central time on Saturday. The company will have a twenty-minute launch window from that point.
A livestream will begin about 35 minutes before liftoff on the company’s website. SpaceX will also stream the launch on X.
If the launch goes as planned, the Super Heavy booster portion of the system will detach shortly after liftoff and land in the Gulf of Mexico. The spacecraft will complete a partial orbit of Earth before landing in the Pacific Ocean 90 minutes after launch.
What happened last time?
On April 20, Starship made its debut launch at Boca Chica Beach near South Texas’ Gulf Coast. Initial plans to launch April 17 dissipated due to issues with the rocket’s pressurization system.
But its takeoff didn’t last long. The rocket’s upper stage, called Starship, failed to separate from its booster, Super Heavy, and the two parts remained connected, causing a mid-air explosion in less than four minutes from liftoff.
The rocket reached an altitude of about 24 miles in the air.
The failed launch left behind significant wreckage and generated a cloud of dust and debris. The flight ended in a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” — what SpaceX called the explosion — creating a huge crater in the ground and pulverizing the launchpad.
Residents complained of environmental damage to the surrounding area. No one was hurt during the launch, and no destruction was found on public lands, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The FAA conducted a mishap investigation into the debut launch. A letter issued by the agency in September listed several “root causes” of the rocket’s failure to separate and delegated Space X with 63 corrective actions to prevent another mishap.
What is Starship?
Starship is made up of two components: its spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket. According to the company’s website, its goal is to be a transportation system that can carry crew and cargo to Earth orbit, the Moon and Mars.
The company says it measures about 397 feet in height and nearly 30 feet in its diameter with a payload capacity of 100 to 150 metric tons. It’s designed to be fully reusable.
NASA has picked the Starship as the system that will carry the next American astronauts to the moon as part of its Artemis program.