The biggest, strongest rocket ever constructed is about to launch on its sixth check flight. SpaceX’s Starship higher stage and Tremendous Heavy booster are stacked subsequent to the launch tower on the firm’s Starbase launch and check facility in southern Texas forward of the automobile’s subsequent mission, which is scheduled for tomorrow night (Nov. 19).
SpaceX is concentrating on a 30-minute window for Tuesday’s launch, designated Built-in Check Flight-6 (IFT-6), starting at 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT). (You can watch the Flight 6 Starship launch stay on-line.) It is going to be the sixth launch of the Starship-Tremendous Heavy stack, and the second time SpaceX goals to catch the rocket booster mid-air through the stage’s deceleration touchdown burn. The primary such effort got here simply over a month in the past, on Oct. 13, when SpaceX launched Starship IFT-5, and succeeded in catching Tremendous Heavy utilizing the launch tower’s “chopstick” arms.
Now, the subsequent Starship in line is prepared for flight. The Tremendous Heavy-Starship stack was fueled up Sunday (Nov. 17), as SpaceX carried out a “moist costume rehearsal” and different methods checks forward of tomorrow’s deliberate launch. “Propellant load check and preflight checkouts full forward of Starship’s sixth flight check,” SpaceX mentioned in a put up on X.
SpaceX shared photographs of Sunday’s fueling as part of the put up, that includes the shiny Starship rocket, frosted in sections from the super-chilled propellants filling its tanks. Starbase sits alongside the seaside overlooking the Gulf of Mexico, close to the southernmost tip of Texas. The distant space is acutely advantageous for these kind of check launches, and can also be significantly picturesque in opposition to the pure backdrop of the marshes, sand dunes and sea.
Associated: What to anticipate throughout SpaceX’s sixth Starship check flight on Nov. 19
The flight profile for IFT-6 largely mirrors that of IFT-5, with Tremendous Heavy returning to the launch website because the 165-foot-tall (50 meters) Starship higher stage continues onward into house. Constructing from its earlier flight, SpaceX has added an extra objective to tomorrow’s launch, not included on IFT-5, however one which’s vital to Starship’s operational qualification.
Whereas in house, Starship will reignite one among its six Raptor engines — a vital functionality for Starship flights past low Earth orbit and for future missions to the moon and Mars. For that cause, NASA can also be maintaining an in depth eye on Starship’s improvement progress.
The U.S. house company has contracted SpaceX to construct a model of Starship for use because the lunar lander for the Artemis 3 mission, which goals to return astronauts to the floor of the moon. The third flight in NASA’s Artemis program, Artemis 3 is at the moment scheduled to launch within the second half of 2026, with a precursor mission (Artemis 2) sending astronauts across the moon and again in November 2025. Each missions had been delayed by NASA from 2024 and 2025, respectively. Now, any delays to Starship’s improvement may probably delay NASA’s Artemis program additional.
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Propellant load check and preflight checkouts full forward of Starship’s sixth flight check → https://t.co/oIFc3u9laE pic.twitter.com/r6XNKyY2ZfNovember 17, 2024
Tomorrow’s Starship launch might be livestreamed on SpaceX’s X account, and will probably be simulcast on House.com’s YouTube channel, VideoFromSpace.
The stream is anticipated start about half-hour earlier than the opening of Starship’s 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) launch window. Video of the launch will also be watched stay on the prime of the House.com homepage, beginning about about 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT).
