Elon Musk’s spaceflight company is continuing its work on the vehicle that could one day take people to the moon and eventually Mars.
SpaceX is ready for the seventh test flight of Starship — the gargantuan rocket that Elon Musk, the company’s founder, says will take people to Mars someday.
Over the first six test flights, SpaceX has demonstrated that it can launch the largest rocket ever into space and more or less bring the pieces back to Earth intact. Over the coming year, the company is looking to turn “more or less” into “reliably” and prove out other capabilities.
Here’s what to know about Thursday’s launch.
When is the launch, and how can I watch it?
The launch is scheduled to occur during a one-hour window beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday from Starbase, SpaceX’s launch site in south Texas. SpaceX will provide coverage on its website beginning about 35 minutes before liftoff.
What is Starship?
The Starship rocket system is the largest ever built — 403 feet tall, or nearly 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty including the pedestal.
And it has the most engines ever in a rocket booster: The Super Heavy booster — the bottom part of the rocket — has 33 of SpaceX’s powerful Raptor engines sticking out of its bottom. As those engines lift Starship off the launchpad in South Texas, they will generate 16 million pounds of thrust at full throttle.
The upper part, also called Starship or Ship for short, looks like a shiny rocket from a science fiction movie from the 1950s and is made of stainless steel with large fins. This is the upper stage that will head toward orbit, and ultimately could carry people to the moon or even Mars.