More from SpaceX Starship launch: all of the news on its test flight and that explosive ending
Another alternative to the main video feed for the Starship test launch is SpaceX’s own Mission Control Audio stream. For official communications, first, this is the one you want, however, it comes without visuals and, as the caption mentions, “There may be very long periods of silence.”
If you can’t wait for SpaceX’s official Starship launch attempt live attempt livestream to begin at 8:45AM ET, or you just want an alternate angle on the action, NASA Spaceflight is, as usual, streaming from cameras trained on the launch tower in Texas with commentary of space enthusiasts providing additional context about everything going on.
So far, so good — the two-hour countdown to a possible Starship launch attempt has begun, however, today the weather is a concern as we near the start of the launch window at 9:28AM ET.
According to the Starship flight test mission page, the launch window it’s targeting is from 8:28AM CT (9:28AM ET) to 9:30 AM CT (10:30AM ET).
Yes, that’s 4/20, and no, it’s not a 69-minute window; it’s 62.
You can keep an eye on our stream of updates for any more details as they arrive.
You’ll just need to put down $175 and cross your fingers the torch will actually arrive in Q3 2023. Then it can sit right next to your Boring Company flamethrower.
But according to Elon Musk, another try for the Starship launch will happen in “a few days.”
Elon Musk tweeted that the issue stopping SpaceX’s first Starship orbital test flight is a frozen pressurant valve.
As the SpaceX livestream ended, we were told that it would take about 48 hours to recycle before making another attempt, so we’ll stand down for a couple of days, at least.
SpaceX’s first attempt at launching Starship to orbital velocity won’t happen today after a pressurization issue with the first stage. According to SpaceX’s livestream, today’s proceedings are now a “wet dress rehearsal” with the countdown ending at T-10 seconds.
On the SpaceX livestream for today’s test flight, as the countdown to 9:20AM ET continues, they referenced earlier sub-orbital test flights.
That included the SN8 (below) high-altitude test that ended explosively and drew some attention from the FAA for violating SpaceX’s license before everything was eventually resolved.
Besides the official SpaceX livestream, you can also stay tuned to NASASpaceflight on YouTube. They’re some of those SpaceX fans who stop by to keep an eye on each launch and have their own feed live from near the Texas pad.
The YouTube stream is live for “the world’s most powerful launch vehicle.”
The countdown now says we’re fewer than 40 minutes out from the launch, which is still scheduled to take place at 9:20AM ET. You can get all the watch details and the video feed right here, or stay tuned to our post for updates and the live video feed.
A little under an hour to go before the first Starship launch, which means you have enough time to watch our video (or read our story) about the small community of people who’ve uprooted their lives to live near Starbase in Texas. A huge day for them!
Scheduled liftoff is now: New York: 9:20AM / San Francisco: 6:20AM / London: 2:20PM / Berlin: 3:20PM / Moscow: 4:20PM / New Delhi: 6:50PM / Beijing: 9:20PM / Tokyo: 10:20PM / Melbourne: 11:20PM
The SpaceX, Tesla, and Twitter CEO speaking live on Twitter Spaces Sunday night:
“If we get far enough away from the launchpad before something goes wrong then I think I would consider that to be a success. Just don’t blow up the launchpad... The chances of us triggering an abort and having to postpone the launch are high.”
Your Monday morning plans could include a groundbreaking rocket launch — SpaceX and Elon Musk are ready to attempt a first integrated Starship launch that’s scheduled to take place around 9AM ET.
The countdown’s first check-in should come two hours prior to liftoff, so keep an eye on our stream for any updates to the plans.
It’s been a few years since Elon Musk and SpaceX showed off early designs of Starship and proclaimed it would enable humans to travel to Mars.
You should go back and watch that 2016 reveal, then check out this five-minute CG video SpaceX just posted, again showing the Starship launching, refueling, and reaching an outpost on Mars. The video’s still all renderings and possibilities, but with an orbital flight test for Starship possibly around the corner, it feels a little different.
Elon Musk says that only 31 of the 33 engines on SpaceX’s Starship booster actually fired, but the static fire test was still a thing to behold. Despite that, the test went really well otherwise according to the people over at the NASA Spaceflight channel, paving the way towards the ship actually launching.
They should start playing replays soon, so tune in if you want to see some flames.
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