SpaceX is scheduled to launch the Starship SN9 prototype later today, in what will be the second high-altitude test of the company’s state-of-the-art missile. You can watch the action live right here.
The window for today’s launch is between 1:00 and 19:00 EDT (12:00 – 18:00 CST). That being said, it is difficult to predict these things and there is no guarantee that the rocket will go up today. The test vehicle, the Starship SN9 prototype, will be launched from the company from Boca Chica, Texas.
There doesn’t seem to be an official SpaceX feed for today’s launch, but that won’t stop us from looking at this lighted candle. We have two live streams for you, one from LabPadre and the other from NASASpaceflight.
Not much is known about today’s scheduled launch, but it seems to be a repeat of the unmanned launch on December 9, 2020, when SpaceX sent the Starship SN8 prototype to an altitude of 12.5 km. The rocket exploded in one giant fireballs while trying to glue the bearing.
Other than that, the test seemed to work pretty well, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described the test as a “successful climb.” No doubt the data collected since that release will have been used for refining that performed today, in which the rocket will fly again at high altitude and will attempt a landing. A successful test would move the company to step closer to sending an unmanned Starship missile up space-bar.
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Once completed, the 50-meter-high (50-meter) rocket will hope, hopefully deliver cargo and passengers in Earth orbit, on the Moon, on Mars and maybe right awayin the solar system. Starship is designed as a hybrid vehicle, performing tasks either as an independent rocket or as the second stage of a reusable launch system (with a SpaceX Super Heavy serving as the first stage). Incredibly, the company would like to “capture“Super Heavy amplifier with launch tower arm and possibly restart the vehicle an hour later.